Transient state of NIDDM in a patient with AIDS

To describe a glucose abnormality in AIDS that is characterized by transient NIDDM followed by hyperinsulinemic normoglycemia.

A 36-yr-old Hispanic man with AIDS was on long-standing aerosolized pentamidine therapy in 1986. He received a course of intravenous pentamidine 5 mo before the onset of diabetes. Nonketotic hyperglycemia responded to sulfonylurea, which had to be discontinued 3 mo later because of normoglycemia.

Diabetes diagnosis was made by three separate fasting blood glucose values of 16.2, 18.1, and 29.9 mM, and HbA1C of 10.1% (normal 4.2-5.9). The patient became euglycemic 5 mo after diagnosis while on no treatment. An oral glucose tolerance test was then normal, and C-peptide stimulation showed supra-normal response.

Transient severe NIDDM in this case could not be linked to acute stress. Pentamidine, in a progressively increasing cumulative dose, is one possible, albeit unusual, etiology because the diabetes was not permanent. After diabetes remission, the data suggest residual insulin resistance that is unusual in HIV-positive patients. Diverse glucose abnormalities exist in AIDS. Awareness of their presentation is clinically helpful.