Online tool uses hospital blood glucose readings to predict diabetes risk
Doctors in the UK could soon have access to a new tool to help them identify people at risk of type 2 diabetes.
Developed by a team of Scottish researchers, the online calculator is designed to help spot individuals who have a high chance of getting the metabolic disorder within three years.
The simple tool, which is specifically aimed at people who have been admitted to hospital for emergency care, works by determining a patients risk of type 2 diabetes based on their age, sex and blood sugar level, which is routinely checked during admission to hospital.
The experts behind the tool say the results of hospital blood sugar tests can help predict a patient’s short-term diabetes risk as their research showed the three-year risk of developing type 2 diabetes was around 15% for hospital patients with high average blood glucose readings (15mmol/l and above). By comparison, patients with normal glucose readings (less than 5 mmol/l) had a three-year risk of just 1%.
Dr David McAllister, epidemiology lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, said: “We dont have a national screening programme for diabetes. Instead we rely on doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals being alert to the possibility of undiagnosed diabetes in …read more
Source:: News from Diabetes.co.uk