Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in primary care

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of case-finding and protocol-driven screening at a practice level on the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes. This cross-sectional study investigated the diagnostic process in 154 patients with diabetes in a single practice with protocol-led screening for diabetes. A large proportion (87%) were diagnosed in primary care and of the 116 (86.6%) patients with type 2 diabetes the majority (58.6%) were also asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. The commonest reason for screening was the presence of hypertension.