Glucose Intolerance Among Apparently Healthy Hausa-Fulani Northern Nigerians

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.