New Online Diabetes Calculator Can Identify a Person's Risk of Diabetes

A team of international researchers have developed a novel online tool that helps health experts to identify patients who are at a risk of developing diabetes.

The new online calculator was developed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow and members of the Scottish Diabetes Research Network. The new online calculator helps doctors to pick the high risk patients in order to be tested for diabetes. The test is mainly for those who have been admitted to the hospital for emergency care.

According to the developers, this is one of the most cost-effective techniques to identify the Scottish people who are at a risk of diabetes. This technique cuts the investment needed to be done in screening.

Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic diseases in which the blood sugar levels remain high for a prolonged period. Diabetes is normally detected through blood test. It can trigger heart diseases, stroke and even amputation of limb.

The online tool calculates the person's risk of developing diabetes over the next three years based on just age, sex and the blood sugar levels, which is regularly measured on admission to A & E.

During serious illness, the blood sugar levels often rise but drop to normal levels when the patients' health improves. Due to this the doctors find it challenging to identify the patients who are at a risk of diabetes.

This novel calculator will help doctors identify those who should be referred to diabetes testing when they recover. The team who developed the tool associated records of more than 100,000 hospital patients to a national diabetes register to get information required to create the calculator.

Dr David McAllister, a Clinical Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, said: "This tool will enable us to identify people at risk of diabetes and give them the opportunity to make positive lifestyle changes to improve their health, without the cost of running a national screening programme."

The finding was documented in the journal PLOS Medicine.