Today, experts stated that the United Kingdom’s 25 million middle-aged adults should be checked for type 2 diabetes.
After examining the medical records of hundreds of thousands of Britons, scientists determined that one percent of the population had undetected diabetes.
This translates to around 250,000 people aged 40 to 70 in the United Kingdom who are unaware that they have type two diabetes.
They cautioned, however, that the true death toll will be substantially higher, as the medical database they checked contains a disproportionate number of healthy individuals.
The scientists from the University of Exeter recommended that middle-aged adults be screened for the condition so that those who have it can begin treatment sooner – similar to existing programs that detect colon, breast, and cervical cancer.
According to the experts, this plan might reduce the average wait for a diabetes diagnosis by more than two years.
Experts warn that it is “hazardous” to live with undetected type two diabetes for an extended period due to the possibility of “devastating consequences,” such as eye, kidney, and nerve disorders.
The study is “by far the largest” of its kind and the first to use real-world clinical data to analyze general population screening programs in this manner.
Diabetes UK estimates that more than 850,000 persons in the United Kingdom have undiagnosed type two diabetes.
The study, which was published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, identified individuals with diabetes by analyzing the HbA1c blood test results.
People are deemed to have type two diabetes if their HbA1c, which measures blood sugar management, is greater than 48 mmol/mol.
Researchers analyzed the data of 179,923 participants aged 40–70 and discovered that approximately one percent of those without a diagnosis of type two diabetes had undetected diabetes.
Given that there are around 25 million persons of this age in the United Kingdom without a diabetes diagnosis, the authors estimate that basic HbA1c-based screening might uncover up to 250,000 undiagnosed cases.
12 percent of unidentified instances had not received a clinical diagnosis or there were no data available on their outcome after 10 years of follow-up, according to the report.
The study revealed that, on average, it took patients with undiagnosed diabetes more than two years to receive a clinical diagnosis.
This suggests that a routine HbA1c screening program could cut the time required to diagnose diabetes by more than two years.
Currently, only persons with a high-risk score for diabetes are offered a blood test by their general practitioner.
However, as the study demonstrates, these risk ratings do not detect all undiagnosed diabetes patients.
The study indicated that professionals are more inclined to evaluate men or obese persons than women or those with a BMI below the obese limit.
The authors stated that healthcare providers must be made more aware of the significance of type two diabetes screenings in patients without obesity.
Professor Naveed Sattar, a diabetes expert at the University of Glasgow, referred to the study as an “advance” for demonstrating that further testing of HbA1c will identify more individuals early in the course of diabetes diagnoses, as well as those “with a higher risk of diabetes, who could then undergo preventative efforts to slow them developing diabetes.”
He stated that a national screening program, similar to those for cancers such as colon, breast, and cervical, was “not difficult.”
Before evaluating the efficacy of what would be a costly new program, he stated that numerous questions needed to be answered.
This would include considerations regarding the frequency of the testing, whether everyone would be tested regularly or only those at high risk, whether it is possible to send a test by mail as with colon cancer screening, and whether a nurse is required to draw blood for a diabetic test.
Prof. Sattar stated that a national screening program may be implemented “perhaps” when the NHS is not experiencing such a crisis, but he is “not sure” that this will occur at this time.
He stated that it must first be determined what “the actual economic patient advantages” are and whether they “outweigh the additional expenses of testing the remainder of the population.
Given that healthcare spending in the United Kingdom is under great strain as the economy worsens, the authors of the study noted that diabetes screening initiatives may be more necessary than ever to prevent lengthy delays in diagnosis.
They also stated that population-based screening is the only option to consistently identify undiagnosed diabetes unless diabetes risk scores are improved.
However, they concurred that “the cost-effectiveness of this population-wide screening of older persons needs more evaluation.”
Dr. Katie Young, the study’s lead researcher, stated, “I think it’s difficult because it’s dangerous for people to live with undiagnosed type two diabetes for an extended period, so it’s important that we consider how we want to screen people, and we should strive to identify people earlier.”
However, there must be a balance between cost-effectiveness and channeling resources into this as opposed to something else.
Lucy Chambers, Head of Research Communications at Diabetes UK, stated, ‘This research provides clear evidence of delays in the diagnosis of type two diabetes and suggests that tests of average blood sugar levels at the population level could assist in detecting cases of type two diabetes earlier than would otherwise be possible.
Early diagnosis is the most effective approach to avoid the debilitating effects of type 2 diabetes and offers the best chance of living a long and healthy life with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes can go undiscovered for up to ten years, which can result in severe complications.
“13,6 million people in the United Kingdom are at a higher risk of getting the illness, yet many are unaware of their elevated risk.”
In the early stages, it can be difficult to recognize the symptoms of type 2 diabetes, so it’s crucial to know the warning signals, such as thirst, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, and frequent urination.
