Prediabetes is a condition that affects millions of people and increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
It is a warning sign that the body’s blood sugar levels are starting to rise but are not yet high enough to be considered diabetes. What makes prediabetes difficult to manage is that it can vary greatly from person to person. Some people may stay stable for years, while others quickly progress to diabetes and develop complications.
Now, researchers in Germany have made a major step forward in understanding and predicting who is most at risk.
Scientists from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) and several partner institutions have used artificial intelligence (AI) to find markers in the blood that could help identify people at high risk for diabetes early on. Their findings were published in the journal Biomarker Research.
The study focused on small chemical changes in DNA called epigenetic markers. These markers do not change the DNA itself but affect how genes are turned on or off. The researchers looked at over 1,500 of these markers in blood samples from people with prediabetes.
Previous research had already shown that prediabetes isn’t just one condition. Scientists identified at least six different groups or clusters of prediabetes.
These groups differ in how the body processes sugar, how insulin works, and how likely the person is to develop diabetes or complications like heart or kidney disease. But identifying these groups usually requires complicated and time-consuming tests, such as glucose tolerance tests and imaging scans.
To make this process easier and more practical for regular medical visits, the researchers turned to machine learning. They trained a computer to look for patterns in the DNA markers from blood tests. The result was impressive: the AI was able to correctly identify people in the high-risk groups with about 90% accuracy.
This discovery is important because it could lead to a simple blood test that doctors can use to predict who is most likely to develop type 2 diabetes or related health problems. If doctors can find out who is at high risk earlier, they can start treatment sooner—whether that means encouraging healthier lifestyles or providing medication.
The study also found that many of the epigenetic markers identified were linked to inflammation, type 2 diabetes, and chronic diseases like heart and kidney problems. This helps explain why some people with prediabetes have worse outcomes than others.
According to Dr. Meriem Ouni, one of the lead researchers, this method could eventually replace complex testing with a much simpler process. “Our next step is to turn these findings into a practical blood test,” she said. This would involve narrowing down the number of markers and creating a special testing chip that can be used in clinics.
Professor Annette Schürmann, Director of the DZD, emphasized that these markers can show both the current health status and the likely future path of the disease. This means doctors can intervene before serious damage happens.
In the future, this approach could completely change how prediabetes is diagnosed and managed. Instead of treating everyone the same, doctors could offer more targeted care based on a person’s unique risk. This could improve outcomes and prevent many cases of type 2 diabetes before they even start.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes, and to people with diabetes, some fruits are better than others.
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