section name header

Evidence summaries

Risk Test for Type 2 Diabetes

A risk score based on age, BMI, waist circumference, history of antihypertensive drug treatment and high blood glucose, physical activity, and daily consumption of fruits, berries, or vegetables appears to be helpful in predicting the risk of type 2 diabetes. Level of evidence: "B"

A random population sample of 35- to 64-year-old men and women with no antidiabetic drug treatment at baseline were followed for 10 years 1. New cases of drug-treated type 2 diabetes were ascertained from the National Drug Registry. Multivariate logistic regression model coefficients were used to assign each variable category a score. The Diabetes Risk Score was composed as the sum of these individual scores. The validity of the score was tested in an independent population survey performed in 1992 with prospective follow-up for 5 years. Age, BMI, waist circumference, history of antihypertensive drug treatment and high blood glucose, physical activity, and daily consumption of fruits, berries, or vegetables were selected as categorical variables. Complete baseline risk data were found in 4,435 subjects with 182 incident cases of diabetes. The Diabetes Risk Score value varied from 0 to 20. To predict drug-treated diabetes, the score value 9 had sensitivity of 0.78 and 0.81, specificity of 0.77 and 0.76, and positive predictive value of 0.13 and 0.05 in the 1987 and 1992 cohorts, respectively.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by indirectness (only Finnish subjects were included in the derivation and validation cohorts).

The following decision support rules contain links to this evidence summary:

    References

    • Lindström J, Tuomilehto J. The diabetes risk score: a practical tool to predict type 2 diabetes risk. Diabetes Care 2003 Mar;26(3):725-31. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords