[Prediabetes: its pathogenetic nature and diagnosis].

A total of 186 close relatives of diabetic patients were investigated in search of methods for prediabetes diagnosis in persons with predisposition to the disease. Nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), immunoreactive insulin (IRI) content in response to glucose load, and the state of the cardiovascular system, primarily of microcirculation were investigated. Changes in the microcirculation system not infrequently preceded the development of pathological glucose tolerance test. Capillaroscopy, conjunctival biomicroscopy, rheovasography, cytochemical study of the blood cells, determination of muscular circulation, and, in individual cases, electron microscopy of the muscle bioptates, mucous membranes or the skin are referred to sensitive methods of investigation. Along with metabolic shifts in lipid metabolism, such changes were noted in 1/3 of the relatives with normal glucose tolerance tests.