Many individuals with elevated glucose levels are unaware of their heightened diabetes risk
MONDAY, Aug. 12, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Few patients with undiagnosed prediabetes are told that they are at high risk for diabetes, according to a study published in the July issue of Clinical Diabetes.
Arch G. Mainous, Ph.D., from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015 to 2016) to identify previously undiagnosed participants who were diagnosed with prediabetes or borderline diabetes as a result of a study-related examination.
The researchers found that of the 4,538 participants, 25 percent had laboratory glucose results meeting the criteria for a prediabetes diagnosis. Of these, 75.4 percent were unaware that they had the condition. Among those with undiagnosed prediabetes, 30.5 percent believed that they were at increased risk for diabetes but only 12.8 percent of them reported being told of their increased risk by a health care provider. Independent predictors of higher perception of diabetes risk included having been told by a health care provider (odds ratio [OR], 7.00), having a family history of diabetes (OR, 4.48), being younger (defined as 20 to 44 years old; OR, 3.03), and having been told by a health care provider that they are overweight (OR, 1.85).
“Diabetes prevention requires improved patient-centered care, which begins with the delivery of adequate information to patients,” the authors write.
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