A 10-year follow-up study of per oral glucose tolerance at annual physical examinations

In order to elucidate the factors influencing glucose intolerance. 100 g oral glucose tolerance tests serially performed at annual physical examinations over a 10-year period were studied. On the initial examination in 356 subjects, 44.8% were normal and 7.1% diabetic according to the criteria of 100 g OGTT recommended by the Japan Diabetes Society in 1970. For the 10-year follow-up study, the subjects were classified into 2 groups, 30s and 40s, by age at initial examination. The prevalence of obesity in the 30s group the at the 10th year was significantly higher than that of the 40s at the baseline (p less than 0.05). The rate of normal OGTT in the 30s group at the 10th year was significantly lower than that in the 40s group at the baseline (p less than 0.01). When compared with 119 age- and sex-matched employees of a certain bank, the incidence of diabetic OGTT was identical, but obesity was less prevalent in the 40s group from SONY. These results indicate that obesity increases the rate of glucose intolerance in subjects under 40 years of age, but in subjects aged 41 years and over diabetic predisposition appears to play an important role.