Abstract
As an approach to prediabetes, glucose tolerance and insulin response was studied in 55 “nondiabetic” relatives of a juvenile diabetic patient, whose disease was discovered at the age of 3 years and 3 months.
1) Glucose intolerance was found in 14 of these 55 cases (25.5%), an extremely high frequency The frequency was slightly higher in closer relatives of the first to fourth degree, Group I, than in less close relatives of the fifth degree or over. Especially, in the age group 0-19 years, 2 out of 7 subiects had glucose intolerance. No significant difference was, however, observed between the two groups in the mean serum glucose level of the OGTT except the youngest age group, 0-19 years.
2) The insulin response of the two groups was compared in 35 relatives with normal glucose tolerance. Group I, which was closely related to the patient, had a lower insulin response and lower insulin area/glucose area ratio, than had Group II, which was less closely related.
It was obvious that the insulin response was decreased in close relatives of the juvenile diabetic patient, implying a decreased sensitivity of the pancreatic beta cells to glucose in prediabetes.
