Researcher develops screening tool to identify patients with prediabetes

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Public release date: 4-Dec-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uom-rds120408.php

Contact: Kelsey

KN@...

University of Missouri-Columbia

Researcher develops screening tool to identify patients with prediabetes

Early detection in younger patients can minimize progression to

diabetes, morbidity and mortality

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A third of Americans with diabetes do not know that they

have it, and many more who have prediabetic conditions are unaware that

they are at risk. A University of Missouri researcher has created a

clinical tool to identify those at highest risk for having undetected

hyperglycemia, impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and undiagnosed diabetes.

If these conditions are identified early, patients may benefit from

preventative strategies that can minimize progression to diabetes, other

diseases and mortality.

" Diabetic risk factors are not equal and assessing a combination of risk

factors can be confusing, " said Richelle J. Koopman, assistant professor

of family and community medicine in the MU School of Medicine. " A tool

that weighs the relative contributions of multiple risk factors and

creates an overall risk score will help clinicians decide which patients

to screen for diabetes. The tool we have developed is easy to use and

the screening can be done with pencil and paper. Patients can do it at a

health fair or a physician's office. "

The Tool to Assess Likelihood of Fasting Glucose Impairment (TAG-IT) is

designed to use factors that are self-reported or easily measured. The

six factors include: age, sex, BMI, family history resting heart rate

and measured high blood pressure.

The average age of diagnosis for diabetes in the United States is 46

years old. However, patients are likely to develop prediabetic

conditions at a younger age. In the United States, 57 million people

have IFG. As type 2 diabetes becomes an increasing burden in younger

populations, it's important to have a screening tool that can assess

undiagnosed diabetes and IFG in people as young as 20, Koopman said.

" There has been increasing evidence that prediabetic states are

associated with diseases and other complications, and strategies that

prevent diabetes in those with prediabetes are effective, " Koopman said.

" The TAG-IT tool will help physicians assess patients' risk levels.

Hopefully, knowing their TAG-IT scores will encourage high-risk patients

to use preventative strategies and make positive changes in their

behaviors. The tool has potential as a Web-based screening tool that

could improve awareness and encourage compliance with lifestyle changes

recommended by physicians. "

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The study, " Tool to Assess Likelihood of Fasting Glucose Impairment

(TAG-IT) " was published in the ls of Family Medicine and is

co-authored by Arch G. Mainous III, J. Everett and Rickey E. .

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