Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Age‐related increase in haemoglobin A 1c and fasting plasma glucose is accompanied by a decrease in β cell function without change in insulin sensitivity: evidence from a cross‐sectional study of hospital personnel

2002; Wiley; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1046/j.1464-5491.2002.00644.x

1464-5491

Allen P. Yates, Ian Laing,

Diabetes and associated disorders

Abstract Aims To examine the influence of age on glucose homeostasis in a population of healthy, non‐diabetic hospital personnel. Methods One hundred and twenty female and 71 male non‐diabetic individuals (fasting plasma glucose < 7.0 mmol/l) were fasted overnight prior to blood sampling. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA 1c ), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and fasting plasma insulin (FPI) were measured using a BioRad Diamat automated HPLC, a Hitachi 747 analyser and a sensitive in‐house radioimmunoassay, respectively. Mathematical modelling of the fasting glucose and insulin pairs (homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)) generated indices of pancreatic β cell function, HOMA‐B and tissue insulin sensitivity HOMA‐S. Results Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that in the whole group there was a significant negative correlation between age and HOMA‐B ( r s = −0.218, P = 0.0022) and a significant positive correlation between age and both HbA 1c ( r s = 0.307, P = 0.0001) and FPG ( r s = 0.26, P = 0.0003). There was no correlation between age and either FPI ( r s = −0.08, P = 0.266) or HOMA‐S ( r s = 0.024, P = 0.75). Analysis by gender showed the above associations to be present in the females ( r s = −0.243, P = 0.0076; r s = 0.304, P = 0.0007; r s = 0.32, P = 0.0004 for age vs. HOMA‐B, HbA 1c , and FPG, respectively). Again there was no correlation of age with FPI or insulin sensitivity. In the males there was a significant correlation of HbA 1c with age ( r s = 0.35, P = 0.002), but no significant correlation of age with any of the other parameters. Conclusions Glycaemic control deteriorates with age in healthy, non‐diabetic individuals. Age‐related rises in FPG and haemoglobin A 1c result from a small but steady decline in pancreatic β cell function. Diabet. Med. 19, 254–258 (2002)