High prevalence of steroid-induced glucose intolerance with normal fasting glycaemia during low-dose glucocorticoid therapy: an oral glucose tolerance test screening study.

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of new-onset glucose metabolism impairment using an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in patients with normal fasting glycaemia on long-term glucocorticoid (GC) treatment.

Methods: An OGTT was performed in 150 patients without a previous history of pre-diabetes or diabetes who were diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and treated with GCs >3 months. All participants underwent clinical and biochemical evaluation for risk factors of diabetes: age, sex, current and cumulative dose of steroids, treatment duration, waist circumference, BMI, Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance, fasting insulin concentration, family history of diabetes, CRP, 28-joint DAS with CRP, type of connective tissue disease and trunk fat percentage measured by DXA.