The Cortisone-Glucose Tolerance Test

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Abstract
The cortisone-glucose tolerance test was performed in 74 active, community dwelling males aged 21 to 95 years. Sixty-one had negative family histories for diabetes mellitus, 13 had positive family histories. None of the subjects had known diabetes mellitus nor signs or symptoms of the disease. Fasting blood glucose concentration was elevated by cortisone administration. Sensitivity to this hyperglycemic effect increased with age. Blood glucose levels, measured at 20 min. intervals for 2 hr. after oral glucose administration, increased with advancing age at each time period during the 2nd hour of the test. The 2 hr. blood glucose concentration increased by 17.6 mg/100 ml per decade of life among subjects with no family history of diabetes. The effect of age was evident throughout the entire adult life span. Because the age-related impairment of performance is virtually universal and quantitatively large, the application to older subjects of criteria for normality derived from young adults results in an inordinately high percentage of "abnormal" results. A nomogram is proposed which permits interpretation of an individual''s performance in terms of percentile rank among his age cohorts.