Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Early detection and treatment of diabetes as well as its prevention help lessen longer-term complications. We determined the prevalence of pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes in the UK Biobank and standardized the results to the UK general population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed baseline UK Biobank data on plasma glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) to compare the prevalence of pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus in white, South Asian, black, and Chinese participants. The overall and ethnic-specific results were standardized to the UK general population aged 40-70 years of age. RESULTS: Within the UK Biobank, the overall crude prevalence was 3.6% for pre-diabetes, 0.8% for undiagnosed diabetes, and 4.4% for either. Following standardization to the UK general population, the results were similar at 3.8%, 0.8%, and 4.7%, respectively. Crude prevalence was much higher in South Asian (11.0% pre-diabetes; 3.6% undiagnosed diabetes; 14.6% either) or black (13.8% pre-diabetes; 3.0% undiagnosed diabetes; 16.8% either) participants. Only six middle-aged or old-aged South Asian individuals or seven black would need to be tested to identify an HbA1c result that merits action. CONCLUSIONS: Single-stage population screening for pre-diabetes or undiagnosed diabetes in middle-old or old-aged South Asian and black individuals using HbA1c could be efficient and should be considered.
17 Authors
- Jana J Anderson
- Paul Welsh
- Frederick K Ho
- Lyn D Ferguson
- Claire E Welsh
- Pierpaolo Pellicori
- John G F Cleland
- John Forbes
- Stamatina Iliodromiti
- James Boyle
- Robert Lindsay
- Carlos Celis-Morales
- Stuart Robert Gray
- Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi
- Jason Martin Regnald Gill
- Jill P Pell
- Naveed Sattar