A Survey for Unknown Diabetics in a Mental Hospital: II. Men from Age Fifty

Abstract

A 100 gm. 2 hr. oral glucose tolerance test was administered to an institutional group of 213 mentally ill men who were 50 to 85 yrs. old and without known diabetes. Thereafter, the test was selectively repeated. In 32 cases results were interpreted, in association with other data, as consistent with previously unknown, unsuspected diabetes-an incidence of 15%. Discovery of this incidence is attributed to universal employment of the glucose tolerance test. The influence of pheno-thiazine therapy on carbohydrate metabolism was partially examined with inconclusive results and requires further study.