Characteristics and Risk of Diabetes in People With Rare Glucose Response Curve During an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test

Existing differences in persons with lower 30- or 60-minute plasma glucose (PG) levels during 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) than fasting PG remain unclear.

To clarify the characteristics of persons whose PG levels decrease after glucose administration during OGTT and their risk of incidence of diabetes in a Japanese general population.

In this cohort study, a total of 3995 men and 3500 women (mean age 56.7 years) without diabetes were classified into 3 groups: (1) PG at both 30 and 60 minutes ≥ fasting PG; (2) PG at 30 minutes ≥ fasting PG and PG at 60 minutes < fasting PG; (3) PG at 30 minutes < fasting PG. The characteristics and the risk of diabetes onset were analyzed using ordered logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard regression, respectively.

Among 7495 participants, the numbers of individuals in the group 1, 2, and 3 were 6552, 769, and 174, respectively. The glucose response curve of the group 3 was boat shaped. Group 3 had the youngest age, lowest percentage of men, and best health condition, followed by groups 2 and 1. Among 3897 participants analyzed prospectively, 434 developed diabetes during the mean follow-up period of 5.8 years. The hazard ratio for diabetes onset in the group 2 was 0.30 with reference to the group 1. No-one in group 3 developed diabetes.

People with lower 30-minute PG than fasting PG tended to be women, young, healthy, and at low risk of diabetes onset.