Abstract

 As a substudy to a broader investigation concerning clinical parameters in patients with impaired glucose tolerance blood and plasma viscosity were studied in 55 patients in ages from 39 to 81 years (mean age 62,4 years).  These patients were selected from a large health study in southern Sweden where they presented with impaired glucose tolerance but without signs of  vascular disease.  At the time of our study these 55 patients were still not, 20 years after their first oral glucose tolerance test, classified as ouvert diabetes. Our intention was to study effects of minor disturbances of glucose tolerance on blood rheology.  The patients had a laboratory profile close to that of patients with ouvert type 2 diabetes. Compared to a ontrol group of healthy individuals they had higher values for blood and plasma viscosity at all shear rates (p<0.001), higher values for b-glucose, ESR, triglycerides, s-GT  (p<0.05-0.005) and lower values for s-creatinine p<0.001). It was also found that diastolic pressure, both at rest and after exercise, was positively correlated to plasma viscosity. This holds true also for systolic arm pressure. Pulse rate at rest and after exercise showed a negative correlation to blood rheology parameters. The pool of data is very large and further analyses are under way. So far our data show that even minor abnormalities of glucose metabolism are harmful and create a risk for vascular disease.