Evidence that multiple risk factors for coronary artery disease exist in persons with abnormal glucose tolerance.

Multiple risk factors for coronary artery disease were determined in 50 healthy, non-diabetic persons with an oral glucose tolerance test result that could not be classified as normal by current criteria and 50 sex-, age-, and weight-matched persons with normal oral glucose tolerance. The results indicated that persons with abnormal oral glucose tolerance were hyperinsulinemic, as well as hypercholesterolemic and hypertriglyceridemic. In addition, patients with abnormal results in glucose tolerance tests had significantly elevated systolic blood pressure and heart rates. These data suggest that a cluster of risk factors for coronary artery disease exists in non-diabetic persons with abnormal oral glucose tolerance.