Diabetes prevention trials and initiatives have been focused on those with prediabetes defined by the presence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and/ or impaired fasting glucose (IFG). If left untreated, up to 79% of those with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes over the course of their lifetime.
Impaired fasting glucose or IFG is considered risk factor for the development of macrovascular disease and diabetes since it is associated with the metabolic syndrome that includes abdominal or visceral obesity, dyslipidemia including hypertriglyceridemia and low-HDL cholesterol, as well as hypertension.
It is characterized by elevated fasting glucose levels. Compared to IGT, there is less international unanimity over the classification of IFG, with ADA recommending values of greater than 5.5 mmol/L and less than 7.0 mmol/L and WHO recommending values of greater than or equal to 6.0 mmol/L and less than 7.0 mmol/L.
IFG is diagnosed from s single fasting sample. Its existence as a diagnostic category arose out of the 1997 recommendation of the American Diabetes Association that oral glucose tolerance tests be abandoned in favor exclusively of fasting samples. IFG is predominantly characterized by hepatic insulin resistance, near normal peripheral insulin sensitive and severely impaired early-phase insulin response following a glucose load.
Rates of IFG rose to 7% in those aged 75% years or older. When diabetes mellitus and IFG are considered together, almost 15% of US adults had some degree of abnormality of glucose regulation.
Impaired fasting glucose (IFG)
