A Cross‐sectional Analysis of Glucose Tolerance and Cardiovascular Disease in 67–year‐old Men

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Abstract
The relationship between degree of glucose tolerance and cardiovascular disease has been studied in a cross-sectional population survey of 644 men born in 1913, randomly sampled and examined at the age of 67. The cohort was divided into different groups according to current diagnostic criteria for diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. An almost 2-fold higher prevalence of hypertension, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and congestive heart failure was found in the group with impaired glucose tolerance compared to the group with a normal glucose tolerance. Fifty per cent of the men with impaired glucose tolerance were being treated with some drug for cardiovascular disease, usually diuretics for hypertension. Intermittent claudication showed a 2.5-fold higher prevalence among the diabetic patients. A computerized 12-lead exercise-ECG test, with a unique accuracy in measuring ST-segment changes, was performed in a subset of 135 men. This showed no association between ST-segment depression and different degrees of glucose tolerance, even when accounting for confounding factors such as treatment withβ-blocker agents or digoxin, pathological Q-waves, and differences in maximal heart rate.