Using data on history of diabetes, fasting glucose (FG) and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), the authors contrasted cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (body mass index, blood pressure, lipids and glycated hemoglobin) in 3052 African-American and White adults aged 70-79 in mutually exclusive categories of diagnosed diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes defined by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), isolated post-challenge hyperglycemia (IPH; FG < 126 mg/dL and 2 h post-OGTT > or = 200 mg/dL), impaired fasting glucose (IFG; FG > or = 110 but < 126 mg/dL), and individuals who were non-diabetic by both ADA and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria (FG < 126 mg/dL and 2 h post-challenge glucose < 200 mg/dL). The prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, undiagnosed ADA diabetes and IPH were 15.2, 3.8 and 4.7%, respectively, with more diagnosed and undiagnosed ADA diabetes in African-Americans than Whites. Compared to mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)) among ADA/WHO non-diabetic individuals (6.0%), HbA(1c) was substantially higher in the diagnosed diabetes and undiagnosed ADA diabetes groups (8.0% and 7.7%), but not in the IPH group (6.3%). The diagnosed and undiagnosed ADA diabetic groups had worse CVD risk factor profiles than the ADA/WHO non-diabetic group. IPH subjects had elevated levels of some CVD risk factors, but differences were more modest than those for the diabetic groups. Among people with IPH, those who also had IFG had worse CVD profiles than those with IPH alone. Although the OGTT may identify additional adults with more CVD risk factors than normals, these differences appear to be clustered among those who also have IFG.