Decreased carbohydrate tolerance in pregnant patients with an early menarche.

Carbohydrate tolerance was studied in pregnant patients with no personal or family history suggestive of diabetes, but with a menarche before 12 years of age. The mean disappearance rate constant for glucose (k) in the intravenous glucose tolerance test was 1.68 in the group of patients with an early menarche. This value is essentially the same as that found in patients with the usual criteria for screening for gestational diabetes, where k equaled 1.61. Both values are significantly different from the remaining patients studied, where k was 1.94. The mean fasting blood sugars and the mean 2 hours past-100 Gm. glucose meal blood sugars in patients with a menarche before 12 years of age and the patients with the usual criteria for screening for gestational diabetes were also the same when compared to each other, and significantly different from those of remaining patients studied. There were no apparent reasons for the early menarche group to have a decreased tolerance to glucose except their early menarche.