Study on background factors associated with impaired glucose tolerance and/or diabetes mellitus

In a cross-sectional health screening 636 persons with negative urine glucose, a 75-g-oral glucose tolerance test was performed. We report the clinical features of the subjects with impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus. In 96 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance, the frequencies of alcohol dependency, fatty liver, and of increased levels of serum uric acid, cholesterol, triglycerides, total serum protein and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were significantly higher than in normal subjects. In 37 subjects with diabetes mellitus, the frequencies of fatty liver, hypertension and of increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, triglycerides and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were significantly higher than in normal subjects. In addition, significant increases in serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, triglycerides, serum total cholesterol and body mass index, and a significant decrease in high density lipoprotein cholesterol were also observed in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus. These results suggest that alcohol dependency, fatty liver, obesity and hyperlipidemia are important concomitants of impaired glucose tolerance.