The prevalence of prediabetes among hypertensive patients in Enugu, southeast Nigeria

Objective: To determine the prevalence of prediabetes among hypertensive patients under treatment. Research Design: One hundred hypertensive patients under drug treatment, 40 men and 60 women, aged above 35years and 100 age and sex-matched apparently healthy subjects were used for the study. The patients were on aspirin, nifidepine, frusemide and felodipine as mainline drugs. Venous blood samples were collected after over-night fast and 2 hours after 75g dextrose ingestion. Main Findings: Twenty-five patients, 10 males 25% and 15 females 25%, had prediabetes giving a prevalence of 25%. Fourteen of them (14%). 4 men and 10 women, had impaired fasting glucose only and 5 (5%) patients; 2 men and 3 women had impaired glucose tolerance only. Six patients (6%) had both IFG and IGT. Unreported diabetes was detected in 14 patients (14%), among whom were 7 men and 7 women. Fifteen patients, (15%), had IFG only, and 5 (5%) patients had IGT only. The mean fasting plasma insulin of the patients was 22.2+19.6μU/ml and the HOMA-IR was 5.1+4.5. Conclusion: The prevalence of prediabetes among the patients did not exceed reported range but the percentage of unreported diabetes was high. The results highlighted the importance of screening for prediabetes in the hypertensive patient population of the study locality. However, there were no significant differences between the parameters of the patients with IFG and IGT, (p>0.05) Key words: Prediabetes, hypetension, impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose, insulin resistance, HOMAIR, unreported diabetes.