New diabetes screening criteria for midlife women evaluated for coronary heart disease risk

The usefulness of new, lowered diabetes diagnostic criterion to identify undiagnosed diabetics in a high-risk sample of women was evaluated. Participants were 228 midlife women undergoing screening for heart attack risk. Fasting plasma glucose levels of participants who were not diagnosed with diabetes were examined to assess the number of women who would meet diagnostic criteria for diabetes using old (140 mg/dL) and new 126 mg/dL) American Diabetes Association criteria. The new criterion identified more women than did the old criterion, particularly African Americans. Use of the new criterion flagged nearly 50% as many women as originally diagnosed as diabetic at the time of screening. Early identification of diabetes may afford earlier, preventive interventions that may reduce morbidity and mortality. Thus, findings from this study suggest that use of the new, lowered diabetes diagnostic criterion may have significant public health benefits for midlife women.