A 7-year follow-up study of the features and transformations of elderly male patients with OGTT-1h hyperglycemia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the clinical features and transformation of elderly male patients with normal blood glucose levels at fasting and 2 hours after glucose intake but with hyperglycemia (≥ 11.1 mmol/L) 1 hour after oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT-1h HG). Seven years of follow-up visits were performed on 189 elderly male outpatients with OGTT-1h HG and data was recorded on their body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, serum cholesterol and triglyceride test results and on their glucose tolerance changes every 1–2 years after taking OGTT; their possible causes were analysed. Follow-up visits revealed that 19 patients with OGTT-1h HG were diagnosed with diabetes (10.1%), 78 patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, 41.3%), 2 patients transformed to normal glucose tolerance (NGT, 1.1%) and the remaining 90 patients (47.6%) remained unchanged. Synchronized comparison with IGT patients showed that the ratio of OGTT-1h HG patients turning to diabetes was lower than that of IGT patients (21.1%, ?² = 13.05, P < 0.01), and the ratio of OGTT-1h HG patients transforming to NGT was slightly higher (0.4%, ?² = 2.46, P > 0.05). The prevalence of complications of hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebral vascular diseases and dyslipidemia in patients with OGTT-1h HG were higher than those with NGT (P < 0.05) and were similar to that of IGT patients. As a special phenotype of OGTT and as part of an abnormal glucose tolerance conformation, patients with OGTT-1h HG warrant special attention, since about half of them were found to have developed diabetes or IGT, and their risk of suffering from vascular diseases were also increased.

Keywords

glucose tolerance test / clinical features / transformation