Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and abnormalities of carbohydrate metabolism in a U.S. Army population.
OBJECTIVE
The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) reported that 4.3-6.3% of adult Americans have undiagnosed diabetes. 15.6% have impaired glucose tolerance, and 10.1% have impaired fasting glucose. By design, NHANES III excluded people in the U.S. military. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and impaired fasting glucose among U.S. Army soldiers.


METHODS
A 2-h, 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was performed on a prospective, consecutive sample of 625 asymptomatic soldiers presenting to a U.S. Army medical clinic for physical examinations. Age of subjects was 32 +/- 9 years (mean +/- SD), and 81.0% of subjects were male. BMI was 26.2 +/- 3.7 kg/m2. Race/ethnicity categories included Caucasian (54.4%), African-American (24.4%), Hispanic (17.4%), and other (3.7%). A family history of diabetes was reported by 25.4% of the subjects, and the number of exercise sessions per week was 4.0 +/- 1.5.


RESULTS
The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was 3 of 625 (0.5%) (95% CI, 0.1-1.4): impaired glucose tolerance, 11 of 598 (1.8%) (0.9-3.3); and impaired fasting glucose 6 of 585 (1.0%) (0.4-2.2).


CONCLUSIONS
In this low-diabetes risk U.S. Army population, the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and impaired fasting glucose were 0.5, 1.8, and 1.0%, respectively. The prevalence rates found in this study are approximately one-tenth of those found in NHANES III.
Chapin
B L
BL
Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University School of Medicine at El Paso, USA. bchapin@fcgnetworks.net
Medina
S
S
Le
D
D
Bussell
N
N
Bussell
K
K
D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D015992:Body Mass Index; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015444:Exercise; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D018149:Glucose Intolerance / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014481:United States
D001786:Blood Glucose