· All racial/ethnic minority groups develop diabetes at lower weights than white adults
· Screening all adults aged 35 to 70 years identifies the greatest proportion of adults with prediabetes and diabetes
· A ‘huge portion’ of the U.S. population has undiagnosed prediabetes or diabetes
Newswise — CHICAGO — Focus on age, not weight, to capture the greatest number of people in all racial and ethnic groups with prediabetes and diabetes, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
Screening all adults aged 35 to 70 years, regardless of weight, identifies the greatest proportion of adults with prediabetes and diabetes in the U.S. This approach will also maximize the ability to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes across all racial and ethnic groups, Northwestern investigators found.
“All major racial and ethnic minority groups develop diabetes at lower weights than white adults, and it’s most pronounced for Asian Americans,” said lead investigator Dr. Matthew O’Brien, an associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician.
The study will be published March 24 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“It might sound counterintuitive because we think of being overweight or obese as the primary cause of diabetes,” O’Brien said.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) currently recommends screening only individuals 35 to 70 who are overweight or obese.
“But if we make decisions about diabetes testing based on weight, we will miss some people from racial and ethnic minority groups who are developing prediabetes and diabetes at lower weights,” O’Brien said.
Diagnosing diabetes in adults from racial and ethnic minority groups is often delayed when compared with white adults. A delayed diagnosis means the disease is harder to control, and individuals are more likely to develop diabetes complications in the heart, eyes and kidneys, while also…
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