Subclinical Glucose Intolerance Increases Risk of Death

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Mar 29 - Subclinical glucose intolerance is
associated with an increased risk of death in adults, according to a report
published in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

Dr. Frederick L. Brancati from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in
Baltimore, Maryland and colleagues used data from the Second National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey Mortality Study to compare mortality among
adults with known type 2 diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes and impaired glucose
tolerance with adults with normal glucose tolerance. Follow-up lasted 12 to
16 years.

Impaired glucose tolerance and undiagnosed diabetes emerged as independent
predictors of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. "There was a
gradient of mortality associated with abnormal glucose tolerance ranging
from a 40% greater risk in adults with impaired glucose tolerance to a 110%
greater risk in adults with clinically evident diabetes," the investigators
report. "These associations were independent of established cardiovascular
risk factors."

Early detection and treatment of undiagnosed diabetes and impaired glucose
tolerance should help reduce mortality in the US, Dr. Brancati and
colleagues conclude.

Diabetes Care 2001;24:447-453.



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