INS and Insulin resistance: Studies supporting insulin resistance as a risk factor for atherogenic progression differ in part significantly to the present study, especially in case of population size (n <100) or age (≥ 70 years) (33–35), study design (e.g., cross-sectional design) (37), follow-up period (1 year) (48), and fasting insulin levels were not treated as a confounder in the statistical analyses.