Glucose tolerance in adult Ethiopian patients with liver disease and porphyria cutanea tarda.

Glucose tolerance test was done in 61 patients with liver disease, 54 with porphyria cutanea tarda and 62 controls. The results showed that 45 patients (73.8%) from the liver disease group, 19 (35.2%) from the porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) group and only 7 individuals (11.3%) from the control group had an abnormal glucose tolerance test. The differences were significant. Although nutritional state is known to influence the glucose tolerance test, we did not find any significant difference in the mean body mass index between those with an abnormal glucose tolerance test and those without in both groups of patients. Furthermore, the prevalence of an abnormal glucose tolerance test in those above and below 40 years in each group of patients was not significantly different, indicating that age probably played no significant role in this study. Therefore, glucose intolerance is common among Ethiopian patients with liver disease and PCT. As some patients with an abnormal glucose tolerance test may be expected to develop asymptomatic diabetes, we recommend that periodic blood glucose determinations should be part of the management.