OGTT‐derived Measures of Insulin Sensitivity Are Confounded by Factors Other Than Insulin Sensitivity Itself
Open Access
- 1 August 2008
- Vol. 16 (8), 1938-1945
- https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.336
Abstract
Insulin resistance is an important risk factor for diabetes and other diseases. It has been important to estimate insulin resistance in epidemiological and genetic studies involving significant number of individuals. Complex and invasive protocols are impractical. Therefore, insulin sensitivity indices based on the oral glucose‐tolerance test (OGTT) have been introduced. The aim of the present study was to assess the accuracy with which OGTT‐derived indices would reflect changes in insulin sensitivity in the face of changes in other factors, such as rate of glucose absorption and/or B‐cell function. A computer model was employed to predict excursions of plasma glucose and insulin after a 75‐g oral glucose load. The model was then used to predict changes in these excursions, which would be observed with altered insulin resistance, with alterations in β‐cell sensitivity to glucose and/or alterations in glucose absorption rates. Published indices of insulin sensitivity could then be calculated from the predicted curves, to ask whether changes in β‐cell function or glucose absorptions rates might be misinterpreted (using the indices) as changes in insulin sensitivity. The model accurately represented OGTT data for a normal glucose tolerant subject, closely matching published data. Imposed 50% reductions or increases in insulin sensitivity alone in the model were reflected in only small changes in OGTT‐derived insulin sensitivity values. More important, imposed alterations in β‐cell sensitivity and glucose absorption without simulated changes in insulin sensitivity did change insulin sensitivity indices. These results indicate that caution is required for the interpretation of differences in OGTT‐derived values of insulin sensitivity, because variation in factors other than insulin sensitivity per se appear to have the greatest effects on indices calculated from the OGTT alone.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- Indices of insulin action calculated from fasting glucose and insulin reflect hepatic, not peripheral, insulin sensitivity in African-American and Caucasian adolescentsPediatric Diabetes, 2008
- Comparison of Measured and Estimated Indices of Insulin Sensitivity and Cell Function: Impact of Ethnicity on Insulin Sensitivity and Cell Function in Glucose-Tolerant and Normotensive SubjectsJournal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2001
- Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index: A Simple, Accurate Method for Assessing Insulin Sensitivity In HumansJournal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2000
- Gestational diabetes: antepartum characteristics that predict postpartum glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes in Latino womenDiabetes, 1998
- Reassessment of glucose effectiveness and insulin sensitivity from minimal model analysis: a theoretical evaluation of the single-compartment glucose distribution assumptionDiabetes, 1997
- Insulin resistance is associated with decreased clinical status in cystic fibrosisThe Journal of Pediatrics, 1997
- Insulin sensitivity and acute insulin response in African-Americans, non-Hispanic whites, and Hispanics with NIDDM: the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis StudyDiabetes, 1997
- Reduced pancreatic insulin release and reduced peripheral insulin sensitivity contribute to hyperglycaemia in cystic fibrosisEuropean Journal of Pediatrics, 1995
- Lilly lecture 1989. Toward physiological understanding of glucose tolerance. Minimal-model approachDiabetes, 1989
- Effect of insulin on the distribution and disposition of glucose in man.JCI Insight, 1985