Mass screening of high-risk patients for type 2 diabetes in general practice would have no impact on mortality rates, according to a major new GP-led study.
The findings, published in The Lancet, found that screening high-risk patients aged 40 to 69 years had no significant impact on all-cause death rates over 10 years’ follow-up.
The study comes after NICE this year recommended blood glucose checks in all high-risk patients aged 40 to 74 years, in order to identify those with diabetes or ‘pre-diabetes’.
Study leader Dr Simon Griffin, a GP in Cambridge, said the new research suggested screening alone was ‘not the answer’ to reducing the burden of diabetes.
His study – the first to evaluate the effect of type 2 diabetes screening on overall mortality – found a non-significant 2% reduction in all-cause mortality and no reduction in diabetes- or CVD-related mortality.
The controlled trial looked at 20,184 patients within the top quartile of risk for undiagnosed diabetes.
2 comments:
But wouldnt there be an impact on mortality rates if, once screened and diagnosed, the patients were then given the correct advice?
fibreclaireUK said...
"But wouldnt there be an impact on mortality rates if, once screened and diagnosed, the patients were then given the correct advice?"
In a perfect world yes, as the standard advice is still low fat high carb mortality rates will remain high.
Graham
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