Reference values for glucose tolerance test in the urban Zimbabwean pregnant woman

The oral glucose tolerance test is widely used as a screening test for impaired glucose tolerance. Criteria for abnormal results in pregnancy have been documented from different countries and in Zimbabwe, the North American values as proposed by O’Sulluvan and Mahan1 have been adopted. These standards were derived from populations on Western diets; also the glucose load was 100 g, the gestations were unselected and no allowance had been made for altered glucose tolerance with advancing gestation. The standards may also be inappropriate because of the differences in the nutritional status and the dietary habits of the two population groups. Others that have used a glucose load of 50 g have obtained significantly lower values than O’Sullivan and Mahan.2,3 Although in 1979 the WHO expert committee on diabetes4 recommended a standard glucose load of 75 g, many units, including ours, continue to use the 50 g load. The aim of this study was, therefore, to derive normal glucose values for the normal urban Zimbabwean woman at different gestations of pregnancy.

A clinical study carried out in urban Zimbabwe on how to derive normal glucose values for the normal woman at different gestations of pregnancy.