July/2006

ANSWER 4 =B

 DISCUSSION:

The patient has diabetes mellitus because he has a blood glucose level greater than 200 mg/dl, confirmed in two measurements. He is one of the 6 million persons in the United States who has not been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus but has the disease. Choice a is inappropriate, although the EKG tracing is essentially normal, because the patient is 51 years of age and has a major risk factor, hyperlipidemia. The bed-side glucose level utilizing a reflectometer should be within 20% of the laboratory determined blood glucose.