Type 2 diabetes is an epidemic affecting people in both developed and developing countries. With the rapid increase in obesity and changes in lifestyle, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has increased worldwide. In 2010, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in adults was 21 million. This number is likely to increase to 86.6 million adults by 2050, a more than 4-times increase over the current prevalence.
Glucose intolerance (GI) can be defined as dysglycemia that comprises both prediabetes and diabetes. It includes the conditions of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes mellitus (DM). The focus of this review is on IGT and IFG. People with these conditions have an increased risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). WHO recommends using the term intermediate hyperglycemia instead of pre-diabetes to avoid the stigma associated with diabetes. Furthermore, not all cases are destined to progress to DM. In fact, the yearly conversion rate appears to range between 5% to 10% with the higher rate for IFG.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) states that the risk of developing diabetes is continuous and extends below the lower limit of the range while becoming disproportionately greater at the upper limit of the range of for 3 diagnostic tests:
Fasting plasma glucose
The 75-gm oral glucose tolerance test (GTT, 2-hour value)
Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) .
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