The Federal Womens Study is an active clinical protocol aimed at recruiting 360 federal employees and contractors working in the Washington DC metropolitan area. The Federal Women nested study was designed to help unravel the complex association of race/ ethnicity, hepatic insulin resistance and the pathway to diabetes. This project evaluates the components of hepatic glucose production (gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis) and the contribution of hepatic to total body insulin resistance by race and ethnicity. Eligible women (30 African descent and 30 white) who participate in the primary protocol (13-DK-0090) are being invited to participate in the nested study to measure glucose and fat metabolism and energy expenditure. In 46 pre-menopausal federally-employed women, without diabetes: 24 black and 22 white; age 371 (meanSEM), range 25-49 y; BMI 321, range 24-45 kg/m2 we found lower gluconeogenesis (new glucose made by the liver) despite similar rates of whole-body insulin resistance and prediabetes. In addition, there was less insulin resistance in the liver in black women but no difference in insulin resistance in adipose (fat) tissue. These findings provide mechanistic insight to help understand why the fasting blood glucose test has lower sensitivity for detecting prediabetes/ diabetes in black women. Alternative screening tests or combining two or more tests may help improve prediabetes detection. These findings were presented in a moderated oral poster session nationally at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in June 2018. The manuscript Chung et al. 2018 entitled Gluconeogenesis and Risk for Fasting Hyperglycemia is in press at the Journal JCI Insight.
| Chung, Stephanie T; Ha, Joon; Onuzuruike, Anthony U et al. (2017) Time to glucose peak during an oral glucose tolerance test identifies prediabetes risk. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 87:484-491 |
| Chung, Stephanie T; Sumner, Anne E (2016) Diabetes: T2DM risk prediction in populations of African descent. Nat Rev Endocrinol 12:131-2 |
| Chung, Stephanie T; Chacko, Shaji K; Sunehag, Agneta L et al. (2015) Measurements of Gluconeogenesis and Glycogenolysis: A Methodological Review. Diabetes 64:3996-4010 |
