title: Glucose tolerance and insulin action in healthy centenarians.
abstract: Advancing age has been found to be associated with a decline in insulin action. Nevertheless, no study has been conducted in healthy centenarians. Our study investigates glucose tolerance and insulin action in centenarians. Fifty-two subjects were enrolled. The subjects were divided in three groups as follows: 1) adults (< 50 yr; n = 20);2) aged subjects (> 75 yr; n = 22); and 3) centenarians (> 100 yr; n = 14). Body composition was studied by bioimpedance analysis. In all subjects, an oral glucose tolerance test and euglycemic glucose clamp were performed. Centenarians have a lower fat-free mass (FFM) than aged subjects and adults, whereas fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, free fatty acids, urea, and creatinine were not different in the groups studies. Centenarians had a 2-h plasma glucose concentration (6.0 +/- 0.2 mmol/l) that was lower than that in aged subjects (6.6 +/- 0.5 mmol/l, P < 0.05) but not different from adults [6.4 +/- 0.4 mmol/l, P = not significant (NS)]. During the clamp, plasma glucose and insulin concentrations were similar in the three groups. In these conditions, centenarians had a whole body glucose disposal (34.1 +/- 0.6 mumol.kg FFM-1.min 1) that was greater than that in aged subjects (23.3 +/- 0.5 mumol.kg FFM-1.min-1 P < 0.01) but not different from adults (34.6 +/- 0.5 mumol/kg x min, P = NS). In conclusion, our study demonstrates that centenarians compared with aged subjects had a preserved glucose tolerance and insulin action.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine and Metabolic Diseases, II University of Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paolisso
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gambardella
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ammendola
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Amore
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balbi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varricchio
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Onofrio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000502:physiology*; D015309:Glucose Clamp Technique; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D005947:Glucose