Objective:To find the relationship between insulin-resistance and Syndrome Differentiation type (SDT) in hypertensive patients.Methods: Two hundred and nine patients of early stage hypertention with no complications of heart

brain or kidney were selected and classified into 4 types according to SDT

the Liver-Fire exuberant type (A)

the Phlegm-Dampness abundant type (B)

the Yin-Deficiency and Yang-Excess type (C) and the Deficiency of both Yin and Yang type (D). Their insulin sensitivity was examined and compared with that of 40 healthy subjects.Results: (1) Compared with the healthy subjects

all hypertensive patients had apparent insulin resistance (P<0.05). If the insulin sensitivity of healthy subjects was defined as 1.00

that of patients of type A

B

C and D were 0.54

0.58

0.65 and 0.80 respectively. (2 ) The insulin sensitivity of patients in the 4 SDT groups were compared and no significant difference was found in comparison between group A

B and C

while significant difference was found when the other three groups were compared with group D (P<0.05)

the insulin sensitivity of type D was close to that of the healthy subjects. (3) The fasting blood insulin of type D was obviously lower and the insulin sensitivity of type D was obviously higher than that of the other three types as a whole (P=0.0001). (4) Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that insulin sensitivity was closely correlated with SDT (P=0.0001).Conclusion: Insulin resistance is one of the pathological basis for SDT in hypertension.