Comparative validity of oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests in pregnancy: A study of 144 patients tested both during pregnancy and in the nonpregnant state

Abstract

A study was made to determine the absolute and relative merits of oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests done during pregnancy as a test of true inherent (actual or latent) abnormal glucose tolerance. Oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests were carried out on each of 144 patients in the third trimester of pregnancy. Between 6 weeks and 3 months after delivery, each patient was retested by oral and cortisone glucose tolerance tests. The data suggested that the oral test was the more dependable. The main drawback of the intravenous test was a false negative rate of 47 per cent compared with 12 per cent by the oral test. The oral test yielded 10.6 per cent false positive results, and the intravenous test 4.3 per cent.