GLUCOSE-TOLERANCE STATUS AND SEVERITY OF CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE IN MEN REFERRED TO CORONARY ARTERIOGRAPHY

Increasing attention is being paid to disturbances in glucose metaboli sm as key explanatory factors for the development of coronary artery d isease. We studied the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance and no n-insulin-dependent diabetes and the levels of plasma insulin after an oral glucose tolerance test in 99 men with heart disease but without a history of diabetes referred to coronary arteriography; we also comp ared the outcome with a matched control group (n = 116). The severity of atherosclerosis in coronary angiograms was evaluated according to g lucose tolerance status. Among the 99 patients with coronary artery di sease, 37.4% had an abnormal oral glucose tolerance test result, where as only 18.1% of the control group had an abnormal result (p < 0.01). Moreover, patients with heart disease and normal glucose tolerance wer e hyperinsulinemic compared with the control group (p < 0.01). By anal ysis of variance no statistically significant difference in severity o f coronary atherosclerosis on coronary angiograms was found. In conclu sion, we demonstrated frequent disturbances in glucose metabolism indi cating insulin resistance in patients with ischemic heart disease with out a history of diabetes, but we could not demonstrate a relation bet ween these disturbances and degree of coronary atherosclerosis.