Preclinical diabetes mellitus in precocious myocardial infarction.

A series of 45 patients who had a myocardial infarction before the age of 45 years has been studied and investigated for alterations of glucose tolerance, as shown by standard and prednisolone-primed glucose tolerance tests. Abnormal responses to standard glucose tolerance tests and prednisolone-primed glucose tolerance tests were obtained in 75.5 per cent of patients with myocardial infarction, compared with 8.8 per cent of controls.Sex, hypertension, obesity, and a positive family history did not affect the abnormalities of glucose tolerance. Various views concerning these abnormalities in glucose metabolism are discussed.