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Horm Metab Res 2011; 43(11): 782-787
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1286333
Humans, Clinical
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

FINDRISK Questionnaire Combined with HbA1c Testing as a Potential Screening Strategy for Undiagnosed Diabetes in a Healthy Population

E. Martin
1   Bavarian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Munich, Germany
,
E. Ruf
1   Bavarian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Munich, Germany
,
R. Landgraf
2   German Diabetes Foundation, Munich, Germany
,
H. Hauner
3   Else Kröner-Fresenius-Center for Nutritional Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
,
F. Weinauer
1   Bavarian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Munich, Germany
,
S. Martin
1   Bavarian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Munich, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received13 April 2011

18 August 2011

Publication Date:
18 October 2011 (online)

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Abstract

Despite the efforts to control the epidemic of diabetes the total number of people living with diabetes is still steadily rising. In order to detect people at risk, cost-effective, convenient, and sensitive screening tools to assess the diabetes risk and to detect undiagnosed type 2 diabetes need to be developed and implemented in the primary care setting. To evaluate the combination of the well established FINDRISK questionnaire and HbA1c testing as a potential screening strategy the data obtained from 671 blood donors were analyzed for a potential correlation with the results of an oral glucose tolerance test. Based on the oral glucose tolerance test, 65 blood donors (9.7%) were newly diagnosed with diabetes, 336 (50.1%) with prediabetes, and 270 (40.2%) had a normal test result. Of the 401 blood donors diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes 322 (80.3%) had a HbA1c between 5.7% and 6.4% and 27 (6.7%) with a HbA1c of 6.5% or greater. The majority of the blood donors newly diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes (n=327) had a FINDRISK result of 12 points or higher. ROC analyses confirmed that the optimal cut off levels were for FINDRISK ≥ 12 points and for HbA1c ≥ 5.9%. Thus, a 3-step screening strategy applying the FINDRISK questionnaire followed by HbA1c testing and performing an oral glucose tolerance test on selected individuals could be a cost-saving approach for screening large populations and identifying people at risk for diabetes or undiagnosed diabetes.

Key words

type 2 diabetes - prevention - screening - early diagnosis - epidemiology
 

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