Application of the Intravenous and Oral Glucose Tolerance Tests in Pregnancy

Using recently available pregnancy criteria a direct comparison of both the intravenous GTT and the oral GTTs was undertaken in 149 pregnant women. In suspects, intravenous testing gave a higher yield (16 per cent) than oral testing (8 per cent). Nonpregnantoral criteria gave the lowest yield in suspects (7 per cent) and a number of nondiagnostic responses (30 per cent) which did not parallel the degree of clinical risk and appearednormal by other nonpregnant criteria.

The advantage of a one-hour test expressed in a convenient numerical index of tolerance, combined with favorable sensitivity in suspects should favor the use of the intravenous glucose tolerance test in pregnancy.