A panel of experts in the US has suggested an alternative way of screening and diagnosing diabetes, in a bid to reduce the millions of Americans left undiagnosed.
The current criteria for diabetes testing requires that the patient fasts, which can often prove inaccurate in the absence of an advanced form of the illness.
Lead author of the report Dr Christopher Saudek, managing director of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said: "Approximately 30 per cent of people with diabetes in the United States are undiagnosed.
"There are serious deficiencies in the current criteria for diagnosing diabetes and these shortcomings are contributing to avoidable morbidity and mortality."
In a new report to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the researchers recommended incorporating an alternative measurement of glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), to the fasting plasma glucose or oral glucose tolerance tests, which doesn’t require fasting.
According to the study’s authors, HbA1c laboratory methods are now well standardized and reliable.
