[The importance of the pyruvate test for the early detection of diabetes mellitus in a mass examination of the population].

The levels of carbohydrate metabolism were examined in 329 inhabitants of Lvov (age: from 6 to 68 years). Determination of the pyruvate level, pyruvate dehydrogenase activity of the blood on the 120 minute after carbohydrate meal allowed to establish in healthy persons four-modal levels of distribution of the content of pyruvate in the capillary blood. These levels correspond to normal tolerance to glucose, increased glucose tolerance (hyperinsulinism), potential glucose tolerance disorders (diabetic type).

[The implementation of a strategy for the primary prevention of diabetes mellitus].

A pyruvate test for glucose tolerance was used during prophylactic medical examination of 47 students and 27 children without risk factors, 54 students with risk factors, 31 patients with type I diabetes mellitus and 220 construction workers in order to test a new methodological basis for the strategy of primary prevention of diabetes mellitus. The investigations showed the presence in a general population of 3-modal distribution of a variant of the capillary blood pyruvate level on the 120th min. of a GTT according to physiological glucose tolerance, potential (prediabetic) and actual (diabetic) carbohydrate metabolic derangements.