[Influence of age and body weight on plasma glucose levels during an oral glucose tolerance test in subjects without carbohydrate metabolic disturbances].

AIM

To evaluate the influence of age and body mass index (BMI) on fasting and postprandial (2 hours after glucose load) plasma glucose (FPG and PPG) levels in males and females.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A screening for carbohydrate metabolic disturbances (by using an oral glucose tolerance test) was made in the stratified adult sample from two municipal districts of the Moscow Region. The data were statistically processed by the computer program SPSS 11.0.

RESULTS

The mean FPG level in normoglycemic subjects was 5.26 +/- 0.43 mmol/l. There was a significant (p < 0.001) positive correlation between age and FPG: r = 0.11 in men and r = 0.17 in women. The mean PPG was 6.15 +/- 1.35 mmol/l; in males it was significantly lower than that in females. There was a significant correlation between age and PPG: r = 0.30 in males and r = 0.13 in females. A weak, but statistically significant correlation was found between FPG and body mass index (BMI) in women: r = 0.02. There was no significant correlation between FPG and BMI in men. No significant correlation was found between PPG and BMI in both males and females. A lower PPG level was 2 times more frequently observed in men than that in women (37.70 and 17.57%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Fasting and postprandial (2 hours after glucose load) plasma glucose levels increase with age in subjects without carbohydrate metabolic disturbances. A predictable plasma glucose level increase depending on age is described by the cubic regression model equation.