HETEROGENOUS INSULIN-RESPONSE TO AN ORAL GLUCOSE-LOAD BY PATIENTS WITH THE INDETERMINATE CLINICAL FORM OF CHAGAS-DISEASE

This study was designed to investigate the behavior of serum glucose a nd insulin in response to an oral glucose load in chagasic patients wi th the indeterminate clinical form of the disease. Sixteen chagasic pa tients and 28 healthy control subjects were studied after an overnight fast and during 2 h after ingestion of 100 g glucose. There were no s ignificant differences in serum glucose levels before and 2 h after th e glucose load between chagasic and control subjects. However, in 8 ch agasic patients, the total area under the insulin curve was significan tly lower (2976 +/- 448 muU ml-1 120 min-1) than in the control (10123 +/- 995 muU ml-1 120 min-1) and in the remaining chagasic patients (9 220 +/- 826 muU ml-1 120 min-1). These results suggest that the hypoin sulinemia of this subgroup of chagasic patients may be secondary to re duced insulin secretion and/or to increased peripheral insulin sensiti vity probably related to autonomic dysfunction.