Diabetes Care, Vol 7, Issue 4 347-353, Copyright © 1984 by American Diabetes Association
Evaluation of three potential screening tests for diabetes mellitus in a biethnic population
SM Haffner, M Rosenthal, HP Hazuda, MP Stern and LJ Franco
We tested the ability of three potential screening tests for diabetes
(fasting plasma glucose value greater than or equal to 140 mg/dl, 1-h
postglucose (PG) load value greater than or equal to 200 mg/dl, and 2-h PG
value greater than or equal to 200 mg/dl) to detect non-insulin-dependent
diabetes in 130 diabetic Mexican Americans (MAs) and 50 diabetic Anglo
Americans (AA) using the National Diabetes Data Group criteria as the
standard. The sensitivity of the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) cutpoint in
detecting diabetes was low in both AAs (36.0%) and MAs (59.3%) and was
related to the age-adjusted prevalence rates of diabetes in the two ethnic
groups (AAs, 4.9%; MAs, 10.9%). The 2-h PG load cutpoint had good
sensitivity (greater than 93%) and specificity (greater than 99%) in both
ethnic groups. The ethnic difference in the sensitivity of the FPG cutpoint
appeared to be related to the greater hyperglycemia of diabetic MAs
compared with diabetic AAs. Nearly 30% of diabetic MAs had FPG values
greater than or equal to 200 mg/dl as contrasted with only 10% of diabetic
AAs. The difference in severity of hyperglycemia between the ethnic groups
appears to be unrelated to ethnic differences in adiposity, pharmacologic
treatment, or delay in diagnosis, although longer disease duration in MAs
may explain part of the difference.