Diabetes among men in a general population. Prevalence and associated physiological findings

A random sample of 281 men, aged 30 through 69, resident in the community of Tecumseh, Mich, was studied with the use of standard glucose tolerance tests, including serum insulin assays and fasting serum lipid concentrations. Diagnoses of diabetes and probable diabetes were made according to a modification of the criteria of Fajans and Conn. Prevalence of diabetes and probable diabetes was considerably higher among men aged 40 through 49 than among those aged 30 through 39, but it increased little in the 50-through-59 and 60-through-69 age groups. Lean nondiabetics and probable diabetics had similar mean systolic blood pressures and similar mean levels of serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, and serum insulin, but fat probable diabetics had much higher mean serum lipid and serum insulin concentrations that fat nondiabetics. Adiposity grouping discriminated by variable levels less well between diabetics and nondiabetics.