'Standard' Glucose Test May Be Wrong One for Obese Children

The current standard screening test for prediabetes in children often fails to detect the condition, Canadian researchers contend.

Ironically, the findings are from a study group of 172 obese children — ages 5 to 17 — who joined a program to help them slim down to a healthy weight.

The standard diabetes test for children is the fasting plasma (blood) glucose test, but it identified almost three times fewer children with diabetes than the glucose stress test, also called the oral glucose tolerance test. The glucose stress test takes longer, because blood is taken from the patient after fasting and again two hours after drinking a sugary solution.

Using the fasting blood glucose test, the researchers found that only 8 percent of the children in the study met the diagnostic criteria for prediabetes. But the glucose stress test indicated that 25 percent of the children had prediabetes.

Read the full article at pharmdaily.com