Diagnosis of diabetes using the oral glucose tolerance test

doi:10.1136/bmj.b4354

Published 28 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4354
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4354

Editorials

Diagnosis of diabetes using the oral glucose tolerance test

May be inaccurate in some ethnic groups, and better tests areneeded

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes varies greatly by ethnic groupwithin and across countries. The most reliable data on the prevalenceof diabetes are based on two hour plasma glucose values afteran oral glucose tolerance test,¹ which is currently the goldstandard epidemiological and clinical diagnostic test for diabetesand impaired glucose tolerance. In Newcastle, England, on thebasis of clinical evidence and oral glucose tolerance test results,about 20% of British South Asians had diabetes, compared withonly 4% of white Europeans, after age adjustment in a sampleof 25-74 year olds.² Might such observed differences in prevalence,at least in part, be artefacts of the diagnostic method?

In 1965, the World Health Organization expert committee drewattention to the "lack of suitable epidemiological informationabout glucose tolerance in various populations of various racesand cultures in different countries"³ and highlighted the needfor research in different . . . [Full text of this article]

Bayanne Olabi, medical student , Raj Bhopal, professor of public health

¹ Public Health Sciences Section, Centre for Population Health Sciences, School of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG

raj.bhopal@ed.ac.uk

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