Report of the American Diabetes Association's Task Force on standardization of the insulin assay.

Recent large-scale epidemiological studies demonstrate that blood concentrations of immunoreactive insulin predict the development of NIDDM and IDDM and are associated with the risk of several degenerative diseases, such as coronary and peripheral vessel atherosclerosis, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. The reliability of these measurements is dependent on a biological assay that has not been well standardized between laboratories. Recognizing this, the American Diabetes Association organized a task force to assess comparability of blood insulin measurements between laboratories and to suggest techniques to improve comparability.