This article presents findings from a new US study which suggests that age, rather than weight, may be a better indicator for identifying individuals at risk of diabetes and prediabetes. The study’s methodology and implications for diabetes diagnosis and prevention are explored.
A recent study from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine discovered that age can assist detect diabetes and prediabetes in individuals. The research was just published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The study, conducted in the United States, discovered that screening all persons aged 35 to 70 years old, regardless of weight, identified the largest number of adults with prediabetes and diabetes. Northwestern researchers discovered that this method will improve the capacity to identify prediabetes and diabetes across all racial and cultural groups.
It may appear to be paradoxical
According to Matthew O’ Brien, the study’s principal investigator, it may appear contradictory because we think of being overweight or obese as the major cause of diabetes.
O’Brien suggested that if diabetes testing is focused on weight, some persons from ethnic and racial minority groups who are evolving diabetes and prediabetes at lower weights will be missed.
The study found that Asian Americans with diabetes and prediabetes are frequently misdiagnosed or delayed in receiving treatment since they develop these diseases at a normal weight.
According to the latest study, an estimated 6 million Asian Americans have prediabetes or undiagnosed diabetes.
Diabetes is prevalent in India
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are around 77 million persons in India who have diabetes, and almost 25 million who are prediabetics, meaning they are at a higher risk of getting diabetes in the near future.
The UN health agency also sheds light on the country’s poor diabetes diagnosis by revealing statistics that shows that more than half of the population is ignorant of their diabetic condition, which can lead to health consequences if not discovered and treated early. Diabetes must be detected early since it raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
