Diabetes mellitus, study: with a two-year diagnostic screening program

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A new study led by the University of Exeter looked at the impact of any screening programme diabetic With a measured hemoglobin aglycated for all UK adults aged 40-70 years. It has emerged that by subjecting British adults of this age group to a diabetes test, it would be possible to find 250,000 undiagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes, making the diagnosis more than two years early. “Early diagnosis will allow for early intervention with the potential to reduce the risk of diabetes complications,” the researchers explain in the pages of the specialized journal. diabetic.

Study in detail

To assess the impact of screening among adults, the research team studied the medical records of 180,000 people between the ages of 40 and 70 at a UK biobank. All participants underwent a test to measure glycated hemoglobin at the time of enrollment. Thus, it turned out that 13,077 people (7.3%) had already been diagnosed diabetic. On the other hand, 1,703 subjects (1% of the remaining sample) were diabetic without knowing it: they had altered glycated hemoglobin levels but were never diagnosed.

Researchers’ notes

Thus, the scientists were able to estimate that there are about 250,000 adults in the UK between the ages of 40 and 70 who suffer from diabetes but without diabetes. personify. By measuring the glycated hemoglobin, these people could get a diagnosis of diabetes at least 2.2 years early. The authors stressed, “The results highlight that diabetes screening initiatives can be more important than ever to prevent delays in the diagnosis of diabetes, with clear benefits to patient health.” “Furthermore, the possibility of finding undiagnosed cases could be higher, as UK Biobank residents are generally healthier than the general population,” they added.