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OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and glucose intolerance in individuals >=40 years of age who contacted their family physician for routine care.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The study used a stratified randomized selection of family physicians across Canada that was proportional to provincial and urban/rural populations based on Statistics Canada Census data (1996). Consecutive patients >=40 years of age were screened for diabetes. If a casual fingerprick blood glucose was >5.5 mmol/l, the patient returned for a fasting venous blood glucose test. If the fasting blood glucose was 6.1-6.9 mmol/l, a 2-h 75-g post-glucose load venous blood glucose was obtained. Results of these tests were used to classify patients in diagnostic categories.

RESULTS: Data were available for 9,042 patients. Previously undiagnosed diabetes was discovered in 2.2% of the patients, and new glucose intolerance was found in an additional 3.5% of patients. Overall, 16.4% of patients had previously known diabetes. The decrease in fasting plasma glucose criterion from 7.8 to 7.0 mmol/l resulted in a 2.2% versus a 1.6% prevalence of new diabetes. Several risk factors were reported in a significantly greater proportion of patients with new glucose intolerance and either new and known diabetes compared with the normal glucose tolerance group of patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Routine screening for diabetes by family physicians is justified in patients >=40 years of age, given the finding of previously undiagnosed diabetes in 2.2% of these patients and newly diagnosed glucose intolerance in an additional 3.5% of these patients. Another 16.4% of primary care patients >=40 years of age have known diabetes. This has important implications regarding health resources and physician education.

(C) 2001 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.