Spontaneous remissions in early diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Sequential oral glucose tolerance tests on 83 nonpregnant, untreated women with early diabetes mellitus are described. Spontaneous improvements were found to range from 25% to 89%, a large proportion of which were remissions to normal. A normal fasting blood sugar level proved to be the single most important factor favoring improvement, although the number of remissions in persons with fasting hyperglycemia is impressive. Weight reduction also favored improvement but did not occur in a sufficient number of patients to affect the conclusion that the changes were spontaneous. Two thirds of the patients with remissions had no change in weight or in a few instances had a weight gain. Diabetics, as a group, were found to be more overweight in both number and degree than the 83 non-diabetic control patients. The diabetics were also gaining weight more rapidly than the controls in the 2 years preceding their diagnoses. Data indicate that spontaneous remissions in both obese and nonobese diabetic patients occur frequently enough to indicate the need for carefully controlled studies before ascribing such results to any specific form of treatment.