Detection of Undiagnosed Diabetes and Other Hyperglycemia States

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To evaluate screening strategies based on fasting plasma glucose (FPG), clinical information, and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for detection of diabetes or other hyperglycemic states—impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance—meriting clinical intervention.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We studied 8,286 African-American and white men and women without known diabetes, aged 53–75 years, who received an OGTT during the fourth exam of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Using a split sample technique, we estimated the diagnostic properties of various clinical detection rules derived from logistic regression modeling. Screening strategies utilizing FPG, these detection rules, and/or the OGTT were then compared in terms of both the fraction of hyperglycemia cases detected and the sample fraction receiving different screening tests and identified as screen positive.

RESULTS—Screening based on the IFG cut point (≥6.1 mmol/l), followed by a clinical detection rule for those below this value, detected 86.3% of diabetic case subjects and 66.0% of all hyperglycemia cases, identifying 42% of the sample as screen positive. Applying an OGTT for those positive by the rule provides diagnostic labeling and reduces the fraction that is screen positive to 29%. Another strategy, to apply an OGTT to those with an FPG cut point between 5.6 and 6.1 mmol/l, also identifies 29% of the sample as screen positive, although it detects slightly fewer hyperglycemia cases.

CONCLUSIONS—Screening strategies based on FPG, complemented by clinical detection rules and/or an OGTT, are effective and practical in the detection of hyperglycemic states meriting clinical intervention.