Background: Glucose intolerance has been recently reclassified by the
World Health Organization (WHO) incorporating a new class known as
impaired fasting glycaemia. Previous studies in this environment looked
as diabetes mellitus only but not the other forms of glucose
intolerance. Objectives: To study the prevalence of glucose
intolerance in apparently Nigerian subjects of Hausa-Fulani ethnicity,
who had no known family history of diabetes mellitus or hypertension.
Method: Standard oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) in 39 healthy
individuals. Results: Three (7.7%) of the subjects demonstrated
impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). There was no case of impaired fasting
glycaemia (IFG) noted. All subjects who had IGT were females
Conclusions: glucose intolerance appears commoner among females in
this study. Factors such as sedentary lifestyles, which are commoner
among females in this community, could be the reason for this finding