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The short insulin tolerance test lacks validity in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes
Author(s) -
Särnblad S.,
Kroon M.,
Åman J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1046/j.1464-5491.2002.00625.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , insulin , type 2 diabetes , insulin sensitivity , reproducibility , endocrinology , insulin tolerance test , insulin resistance , clamp , chromatography , mechanical engineering , clamping , chemistry , engineering
Aims The short insulin tolerance test (SITT) has been found to be a simple and valid method for determining insulin sensitivity in healthy adults and patients with Type 2 diabetes. In this study we evaluated the reproducibility and validity of SITT in 16 adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. Methods Thirteen patients underwent two SITT and eight patients were examined with both SITT and a euglycaemic hyperinsulinaemic clamp. At the SITT insulin sensitivity was measured from the slope of arterialized blood glucose concentrations determined for 16 min after an intravenous bolus injection of short‐acting insulin, 0.1 U/kg body weight, and expressed as glucose disappearance rate (K ITT ). Results There was a significant correlation between the insulin sensitivity estimations made at the two SITT ( r = 0.73, P = 0.003). The reproducibility was low, however, with a coefficient of variation of 38.7%. K ITT showed a strong inverse correlation to the fasting blood glucose concentration ( r = −0.74, P < 0.0001). We found no correlation between insulin sensitivity measured by SITT and that measured by the euglycaemic clamp. Conclusions We conclude that the short insulin tolerance test cannot be used in adolescent patients with Type 1 diabetes for a simple estimation of insulin sensitivity.