Impaired glucose tolerance: a pilot study in randomly selected population of Chennai

Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is considered as a prediabetic state that occupies a grey area between diabetes mellitus (DM) and normal glucose tolerance (NGT). If diabetes is detected at the stage of impaired glucose tolerance, it may be possible to halt the progression to overt diabetes. The study was conducted to assess the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance and its relation with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and family history of diabetes mellitus in a randomly selected Chennai population of 200 subjects of both sexes as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Blood glucose concentration, body mass index and waist-hip ratio were measured by approved methods. All the data were statistically analyzed. Prevalence of IGT in this study population is 8.5%. BMI and family history of diabetes showed association with IGT. WHR showed association with IGT in males, but not in females. The prevalence of IGT is similar with differing age groups and sex.