Diabetes: High Risk Groups
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is mainly determined by genetics. Hence, if there is a diabetic in your family, there is a 5% chance that you or your child will have diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes
There is no generally accepted policy to screen for diabetes at the community level, even though there may be twice as many "closet diabetics", as those who are currently diagnosed!
It is good clinical practice for doctors to perform a random blood sugar as part of a periodic medical assessment.
Persons at special risk should be screened, possibly in a longitudinal prospective manner (tested regularly by their doctors).
These include:
- Overweight individuals i.e. those whose BMI (Body Mass Indicator) is higher than 30. Click here to calculate your body mass).
- Persons from a family with non-insulin-dependent diabetes
- Persons from a family with insulin-dependent diabetes, who have markers of autoimmunity in the blood (antibodies against insulin and antibodies against Cellular components of the insulin secreting cells of the pancreas.
- Persons from the ethnic groups : Amerindian tribes, Samoans and East Indians
- Persons taking drugs which may interfere with insulin production or its action on the body