Abstract
Objective: Detection of postprandial hyperglycemia in the early stage of diabetes mellitus is crucial. However, the indices used during routine health check-ups are relatively insensitive to glucose intolerance in the early stage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of our newly developed method for measuring glucose area under curve (AUC) without blood sampling after test meal loading.
Methods: Fifty volunteers who had not been previously diagnosed with diabetes were asked to consume a test meal (75 g of carbohydrates) during a routine health check-up. The glucose AUC monitoring system was applied 2 h after meal loading. In addition, capillary blood glucose was measured 1 and 2 h after meal loading to obtain reference values. Urinary myoinositol and other indices of glucose intolerance were also measured before and/or after meal loading.
Results: Glucose AUC measurements using our system were well correlated with capillary blood glucose measurements (r = 0.85). Compared with urinary myoinositol measurement, that with our system was better (sensitivity 73%, specificity 84%) at distinguishing glucose intolerance characterized by elevated blood glucose from normal glucose tolerance.
Conclusion: We demonstrated that our glucose AUC measurement system that screens for glucose intolerance after test meal loading is convenient and painless. Furthermore, the use of this system with test meals would be effective in screening for glucose intolerance during a routine health check-up.
