Capillary Blood Sugar Values in Children During the Oral Cortisone-Primed Glucose Tolerance Test

Abstract

Three-hour oral cortisone-primed glucose tolerance tests were performed on a total of 113 children in three age groups; iy 2 to less than 4 yrs., 4 yrs. to less than 8 yrs., and 8 to 12 yrs. of age. All children had negative family histories for diabetes, were in good health, and had recent normal oral glucose tolerance tests. A capillary blood microtechnic for blood sugar was used. Oral glucose was administered according to age and weight. The total cortisone dosage was 280 mg. per M 2 given in two equally divided doses eight-and-one-half and two hours before the testing.It is suggested that the blood sugar values for the IV2 to less than 4 yrs. age group be considered separately because of significant differences from the other age groups. The values for the ± 2 standard deviation range for boys and girls from 4 to 12 yrs. of age were: fasting (54.4-114.0 mg./ 100 ml.); 30 min. (96.1-202.9 mg./lOO ml.); 60 min. (74.7-202.3 mg./lOO ml.); 90 min. (72.5-169.3 mg./lOO ml.); 120 min. (65.8-157.4 mg./lOO ml.) ; 180 min. (49.6-122.4 mg./100 ml.). DIABETES 20:615-21, September, 1971.The thrust of much present day research is to identify those individuals predisposed to diabetes mellitus 1 and to evaluate the effectiveness of early therapy. 2 -3 The evidence for the importance of genetic factors in diabetes 4 has resulted in an increasingly large number of children being examined for the presence of the disease.Probably the most widely used test in studies of the prevalence of diabetes has been the oral glucose tolerance