New Approach for Detecting Patients with Diabetes

A study has demonstrated that a new approach can easily diagnose new cases of diabetes in patients already under a doctor's care. The study was conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC, USA) and its findings published in the January 2002 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Current screenings for diabetes use a blood-sugar test that requires prior fasting and can take hours to administer. In the new approach, the researchers used a simple blood test (HgA1c) that indicates blood-sugar levels over the previous two to three months, can detect at least 75% of cases of diabetes, and does not require fasting. They administered this test to 1,253 patients (45-64 years old) during regular visits to the doctor. The researchers then performed the fasting glucose test on participants who scored high on the first test. This revealed that 4.5% of the participants had diabetes that had gone undetected. Findings from other studies show that targeting the test to patients with obesity, high-blood pressure, and a family history of the disease would be even more cost effective.

"This finding suggests that there is opportunity for diabetes case-finding even in populations receiving medical treatment,” said David Edelman, M.D., of Duke University Medical Center.




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Duke University Medical Center