Half a million may have diabetes - or high risk - without knowing it

[Sash]

More than half a million people could have diabetes or a high risk of developing the condition without knowing it, according to a survey of GPs' surgeries. Doctors examined medical records of more than 3.6 million patients at 480 surgeries in the UK and found thousands of cases of probable diabetes that had not been diagnosed. Hundreds of thousands more were found to be at risk of developing the disease.

A team led by Dr Tim Holt at Warwick University checked patients' blood tests for signs for high glucose levels, a known indicator of diabetes. They found 3,758 patients with suspected diabetes and another 32,785 whose glucose readings were borderline.

"If the same survey was extended to all UK GP surgeries we estimate that 60,000 people would be identified with evidence of undiagnosed diabetes. In addition, over half a million people nationally would require further tests to rule out diabetes," Holt said.

The survey was published yesterday in the British Journal of General Practice.

Among the earliest symptoms of diabetes are blurry vision, thirst and a frequent need to urinate. In later stages, the disease can lead to blindness, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputations and nerve damage.

Two million people in Britain have already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, with a further 300,000 known to have type 1, which commonly develops in childhood, according to Diabetes UK, whose chief executive, Douglas Smallwood, has for many years been calling for active programmes to identify people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.

"In many cases, leading a healthy lifestyle and managing weight can prevent or delay onset of the condition, so targeting these people is vital," he said.

"If rolled out nationally, this research could potentially identify over half a million people who are undiagnosed or at increased risk of developing the condition. The earlier people are diagnosed, the earlier they can get on with managing the condition and reduce their risk of developing complications."


Half a million may have diabetes - or high risk - without knowing it | Society | The Guardian

That's a huge number of people.

[Cintaria]

That's a huge number of people.

yup. Might be an idea to visit the gp and just get checked out =s

[Ferrari]

Im a hihg risck as my dad, anty, granddad & grate anty all had it, but i got tested and am ok

[teflon]

Well I think I might have it slightly because when I forget to eat for a day or two, then I get all shaky and irritable. Obviously I haven't got the real actual bad thing where people lose their legs and sight because they eat one single Mars bar, but I can see what they mean about having low blood-sugar when it makes them all crazy and cranky.
The weird thing is sugar was introduced to our diets relatively recently in evolutionary terms and humans survived without it for hundreds of thousands of years. Our forefathers must have gorged on it and given us physiologial dependancies, much like if they had always scoffed cocaine we might all have problems regulating dosages of that by now.

I wish they had scoffed cocaine instead because sugar is a lame thing to be dependant on and it would have resulted in coke being in chocolate and pepsi (oh the irony).

[Harv]

that would have made coke Sugara Sugar and Pepsi max would give you a bad trip

[Moonbeam]

Lloyds Pharmacy do a free diabetes test if there is one near to you, have done for a while now at the one by me

[Ferrari]

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

Lloyds Pharmacy do a free diabetes test if there is one near to you, have done for a while now at the one by me

I see that advurtsd on TV