The Big Picture: A Simple Check for a Big Problem
Imagine going to the emergency room for a sprained ankle and coming out with information that could potentially save your life.
That’s what’s happening in some emergency rooms where doctors have started checking patients for signs of hidden diabetes.
This simple extra step is making a big difference, especially for people who don’t even know they have a problem.
How It Works: A Quick Test That Tells a Lot
A team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago decided to test this idea in a real emergency room.
They set up a system where the computer would flag certain patients who might be at risk for type 2 diabetes based on their medical history or symptoms.
If these patients had blood tests during their emergency room visit for any reason, doctors could easily add another test to check for diabetes.
This test measures the level of a substance called hemoglobin A1c in the blood, which gives a good idea of your average blood sugar levels over the past few months.
Out of the 8,441 people who visited the emergency room during the study, tests were triggered for 2,576. Among these, 1,085 people (that’s over half!) had results suggesting they either had diabetes or were at risk.
Most of them didn’t even know about it. When the team called up some of these patients later, it turned out that only a quarter of them knew they had some form of sugar problem, and even fewer were getting any treatment.
Who It Helps the Most: Reaching the Unreached
What’s particularly interesting is that this simple test in the emergency room helped discover a lot of hidden cases among people who typically don’t get regular check-ups.
About half of the patients reached out had public insurance, and a small chunk had no insurance at all.
The test was especially helpful for people from racial and ethnic minority groups and low-income households, who are often less likely to be diagnosed early.
The Takeaway: A Step Towards Better Health
So, why does this matter? Well, diabetes is a big deal. It’s not just about having to avoid sugar; it’s a condition that can lead to all sorts of other health problems, from heart disease to kidney failure.
The sooner it’s found, the better it can be managed. And because diabetes often doesn’t show symptoms until it’s advanced, many people don’t find out they have it until it’s too late to easily manage.
That’s why this emergency room check can be a real game-changer.
The team from the University of Illinois Chicago thinks their findings could help a lot of people, especially those who are less likely to have regular doctor visits.
They believe that emergency rooms could be a good place to catch this disease early, particularly for people who might not get screened otherwise.
After all, you never know: a trip to the emergency room for one reason could end up saving your life in more ways than one.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes, and what you need to know about avocado and type 2 diabetes.
For more information about diabetes, please see recent studies about the normal blood sugar for people with diabetes, results showing that Zinc may be the key to better diabetes treatments.
The study was published in JAMA Network Open.
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