Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and abnormalities of carbohydrate metabolism in a U.S. Army population

• Published in: Diabetes care Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 426 - 429
• Main Authors: CHAPIN, B. L, MEDINA, S, DZUNG LE, BUSSELL, N, BUSSELL, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria, VA American Diabetes Association 01.03.1999
• Subjects: Adult; Armed forces; Asymptomatic; Binomial distribution; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Glucose - analysis; Body Mass Index; Carbohydrate Metabolism; Carbohydrates; Data analysis; Diabetes Mellitus - diagnosis; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Diabetes Mellitus - ethnology; Diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance; Endocrine pancreas. Apud cells (diseases); Endocrinopathies; Ethnicity; Exercise; Fasting - blood; Female; Gestational diabetes; Glucose; Glucose Intolerance - epidemiology; Humans; Hypertension; Male; Management. Various non-drug treatments. Langerhans islet grafts; Medical sciences; Metabolism; Military personnel; Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Military schools; Nutrition; Population; Prevalence; Prospective Studies; Public health; Questionnaires; Research design; United States; United States; North America; America; United States > US; Endocrinopathy; Human; Prevalence; Diabetes mellitus; Metabolic diseases; Diagnosis; Glucose; Medical screening; Impaired glucose tolerance; Public health
• ISSN: 0149-5992; 1935-5548
• DOI: 10.2337/diacare.22.3.426

Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and abnormalities of carbohydrate metabolism in a U.S. Army population. B L Chapin , S Medina , D Le , N Bussell and K Bussell Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University School of Medicine at El Paso, USA. bchapin@fcgnetworks.net Abstract OBJECTIVE: The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) reported that 4.3-6.3% of adult Americans have undiagnosed diabetes. 15.6% have impaired glucose tolerance, and 10.1% have impaired fasting glucose. By design, NHANES III excluded people in the U.S. military. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and impaired fasting glucose among U.S. Army soldiers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A 2-h, 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was performed on a prospective, consecutive sample of 625 asymptomatic soldiers presenting to a U.S. Army medical clinic for physical examinations. Age of subjects was 32 +/- 9 years (mean +/- SD), and 81.0% of subjects were male. BMI was 26.2 +/- 3.7 kg/m2. Race/ethnicity categories included Caucasian (54.4%), African-American (24.4%), Hispanic (17.4%), and other (3.7%). A family history of diabetes was reported by 25.4% of the subjects, and the number of exercise sessions per week was 4.0 +/- 1.5. RESULTS: The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was 3 of 625 (0.5%) (95% CI, 0.1-1.4): impaired glucose tolerance, 11 of 598 (1.8%) (0.9-3.3); and impaired fasting glucose 6 of 585 (1.0%) (0.4-2.2). CONCLUSIONS: In this low-diabetes risk U.S. Army population, the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and impaired fasting glucose were 0.5, 1.8, and 1.0%, respectively. The prevalence rates found in this study are approximately one-tenth of those found in NHANES III.