[Does the insulin-secretion capacity of non-diabetic subjects possess a prognostic value? (author's transl)].

Twenty-two patients, whose initial oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was not diabetic, but who possibly had predisposition for diabetes, underwent iterative OGTT with plasma insulin determination and estimate of insulin-secretion capacity (plasma insulin area/blood glucose area ratio, and insulin-secretion coefficient). With a 30 months mean time interval between the two tests, a highly significant negative correlation was found between insulin-secretion capacity of the first test and blood glucose area of the last one. Glycemic curve of the OGTT was diabetic in 3 cases at the final test. Thus, it seems possible to select subjects most prone to future diabetes with simple parameters estimating insulin-secretion capacity during OGTT.