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Full-term infants who are small for gestational age are known to have impaired glucose regulation as adults, but few data are available about glucose regulation in premature infants when they reach adulthood. Investigators in Helsinki compared glucose regulation in 163 adults (age range, 18–27 years) who were premature at birth (mean birth weight, 1120 g; mean gestational age, 29 weeks) and 169 adults who were matched for age and gender and were full term at birth.
Based on a standard 75-g oral glucose challenge, virtually all measures of glucose regulation were significantly impaired in the premature group. For example, the premature group, compared with the control group, had significantly higher mean concentrations of both 2-hour glucose …