Impact of new diagnostic criteria of diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To compare the frequency of diabetic individuals diagnosed by fasting plasma glucose (FPG) Ž 7.0 mmol/L with previous value i.e. Ž 7.8 mmol/L and to determine the diagnostic accuracy of FPG Ž 7.0 mmol/L. Design: A cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The Department of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi, from April to July 2003. Patients and Methods: FPG of 5250 subjects was checked to compare the frequency of diabetic subjects diagnosed by FPG Ž 7.0 mmol/L with Ž 7.8 mmol/L. Of them, 301 symptom-free subjects were subjected to 75 g Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) and their 2 hours post glucose (2-h PG) challenge level was taken as "gold standard" to determine the diagnostic accuracy of FPG at Ž 7.0 mmol/L. Results: By lowering the cut off point of FPG from 7.8 mmol/L to 7.0 mmol/L, the percentage of diagnosed diabetic subjects increased from 35% to 42%. Statistical analysis revealed a significant increase (p 7.0 mmol/L, will greatly facilitate the early diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM). An early diagnosis can be further facilitated by a combination of FPG and 2-h PG estimation.