Glucose Tolerance in Various Age Groups of the Elderly

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Abstract
Fasting blood glucose concentrations and the values obtained two hours after administration of 50 gm of glucose were examined in 1500 patients admitted to the department for chronic diseases in a hospital in Finland. In females of the higher age groups, fasting blood glucose was more frequently over 100 mg per 100 ml than it was in age groups under 60. In males, no such phenomenon was observed. Two hours after the administration of glucose all the older age groups showed high blood glucose values much more often than did the younger age groups. In males, no additional tendency to increase with age was observed in the age brackets beyond 60–64 years. In females, on the contrary, elevated values became continuously more common as age increased. Diagnostic information obtained by the glucose tolerance test appears to be questionable in the case of elderly patients. Doubt is also thrown on the justifiability of the prediabetes concept by the very high frequency of diabetic‐type glucose tolerance curves in the oldest age groups.