[Effect of age on glucose tolerance and cardiovascular risk factors--results of the Diabetes Infobus tour 1998/99 ].

In 19,219 individuals (45.4% male, 54.6% female) with an age range from 10 to 95 years average body weight, body mass index (BMI), serum cholesterol and arterial blood pressure showed typical age-dependent changes. In the middle-aged between 45 and 65 years the high percentage of total cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dl (male: 58.3%; female 70.7%) seems alarming. In very old persons over 80 years the predictive value of those cardiovascular risk factors for increased mortality might be reversed, since in several epidemiological observations higher total cholesterol values and a high systolic blood pressure were associated with a longer survival. Average random blood glucose concentration is steadily rising with age. In good comparison with results from US American and European studies the age-matched relative risk for known myocardial infarction and stroke is twice to four times higher in individuals with known diabetes mellitus than in those without. These findings underline the urgent need for broadly based screening programs looking for metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors and for early disturbances of carbohydrate metabolism particularly in middle-aged groups, and for manifest diabetes mellitus in persons over 65 years of age.