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A Comparison of the Predictive Power for Overall Blood Glucose Control of a ‘Good’ Fasting Level in Type 2 Diabetic Patients on Diet Alone or with Oral Agents
Author(s) -
Trovati Mariella,
Burzacca S.,
Mularoni E.,
Massucco P.,
Cavalot F.,
Mattiello L.,
Anfossi G.
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1992.tb01749.x
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , diabetes mellitus , type 2 diabetes , fasting glucose , insulin resistance
The European NIDDM Policy Group classifies both fasting and post‐prandial blood glucose concentrations into ‘good’, ‘acceptable’, and ‘poor’ categories. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a ‘good’ fasting blood glucose concentration in Type 2 diabetic patients on diet or diet + oral hypoglycaemic agents is able to predict ‘good’ blood glucose values throughout the day, and therefore to discover whether or not it is necessary to perform blood glucose profiles in Type 2 diabetic patients when their fasting value is ‘good’. Capillary blood glucose profiles ( n = 417) were measured in 287 Type 2 diabetic patients, on diet alone (279 profiles), or on diet + tablets (138 profiles). We observed that 66% of profiles on diet and 44% of profiles on diet + tablets had only ‘good’ blood glucose concentrations ( p < 0.001). Eleven percent of profiles on diet and 30% of profiles on diet + tablets included ‘poor’ blood glucose concentrations ( p < 0.001). Despite matched fasting blood glucose concentrations (diet 5.69 ± 0.04 (±SE) vs tablets 5.75 ± 0.05 mmol I −1 ), levels were higher in the diet + tablet treated patients at all later time‐points ( p < 0.01–0.001). HbA 1c was significantly higher in tablet‐treated patients than in patients on diet alone (6.6 ± 0.1 vs 5.9 ± 0.1%, p < 0.001), and correlated with the mean blood glucose concentration ( r = 0.43, p < 0.001) but not with the fasting glucose concentrations. We conclude that a ‘good’ fasting blood glucose concentration is more predictive of good overall control in patients on diet alone than in patients on diet plus oral agents.