In the January 2007 issue of the the journal Liver Transplantation, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD), French scientists published an article suggesting a link between certain risk factors and new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) following liver transplantation.

Specifically, a history of impaired fasting glucose, obesity and hepatitis C infection -- when paired with the use of an of immunosppressant -- was shown to be associated with an increased risk of NODM.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers at the Hospital Paul Brousse in Villejuif, France, included 211 patients from 10 transplant centers who had undergone a liver transplant between October of 2003 and June of 2004. The patients' records were reviewed and their fasting blood sugar levels were recorded 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after the surgery. Those patients with NODM had their date of diagnosis noted, in addition to the immunosuppressive treatment and diabetes management they received.

The results demonstrated an incident of NODM of 22.7 percent, with most cases being diagnosed within three months after transplant surgery. Moreover, 12.4 percent of the patients with normal glucose levels before the surgery developed impaired fasting glucose.