[Detection of diabetes mellitus in young adults. Survey on 161,500 male subjects].

In the course of previous studies concerned with the detection of diabetes in 143,000 persons aged between 19 and 20 years, on the basis of testing for fasting glycosuria, the occurrence of the disorder had been estimated at 1.2 per thousand. By virtue of modifications in technique--in particular testing for glycosuria using special dipsticks after a standard high carbohydrate breakfast (170 Gm carbohydrate)--it emerged that in 6,000 subjects the frequency of diabetes was 20 per thousand. Thus from the age of 20 years onwards, the prevalence of the disorder is high, in the region of levels observed in middle age and close to the occurrence rates for purine metabolism abnormalities and hyperlipidaemias.