Glucose intolerance among apparently healthy Hausa-Fulani Northern Nigerians

Abstract

Background: Glucose intolerance has been recently reclassified by the World Health Organization (WHO) incorporating a new class known as impaired fasting glycaemia. Previous studies in this environment looked as diabetes mellitus only but not the other forms of glucose intolerance.


Objectives: To study the prevalence of glucose intolerance in apparently Nigerian subjects of Hausa-Fulani ethnicity, who had no known family history of diabetes mellitus or hypertension.


Method: Standard oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) in 39 healthy individuals.


Results: Three (7.7%) of the subjects demonstrated impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). There was no case of impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG) noted. All subjects who had IGT were females


Conclusions: glucose intolerance appears commoner among females in this study. Factors such as sedentary lifestyles, which are commoner among females in this community, could be the reason for this finding.


Key Words: Glucose intolerance, Nigerians


Annals of African Medicine Vol.3(1 ) 2004: 32-34