The effect of age on glucose tolerance: studies in the Polynesian population of Funafuti.

Venous plasma glucose concentrations both fasting and 2 h after a 75 g carboydrate load were determined in 577 Polynesian subjects. An increase in both the mean fasting and postload glucose concentrations with age was noted in both sexes. Percentile distributions of both fasting and post-load glucose concentrations showed there was little change with age in males except for the 90th percentile. However, in females there was a rise with age in all percentiles, but it was most dramatic in the 90th. The overall prevalence of diabetes in the females of this Polynesian population is three times that of the males, and the age and sex-specific rates are much higher in the females. It appears, therefore, that the major contribution to the age-related rise in glucose concentrations reported here is the increasing number of diabetics (mainly female) with age.