Screening asymptomatic persons for diabetes may lead to earlier identification and earlier or more intensive treatments, potentially improving health outcomes. That’s the opinion of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which published the results of an evidence review in the Annals of Internal Medicine in April.
Approximately 21 million persons in the United States received a diabetes diagnosis in 2010 and an estimated 8 million cases went undiagnosed.
USPSTF researchers reviewed studies published from 2007 through October 2014 to assess the benefits and harms of screening for type 2 diabetes, impaired fasting glucose, or impaired glucose tolerance among asymptomatic adults. The evidence suggests that screening asymptomatic, non-pregnant adults for type 2 diabetes could help to delay progression to diabetes by identifying those who could benefit from treatment of impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance. However, screening did not improve mortality rates after 10 years of follow-up.
In 2008, the USPSTF recommended that physicians should screen for type 2 diabetes in asymptomatic adults with treated or untreated sustained blood pressure greater than 135/80 mm Hg. This recommendation was based on the ability of screening to identify persons with diabetes and evidence that more-intensive blood pressure treatment was associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular events, including cardiovascular mortality, in patients with diabetes and hypertension.
Since then, evidence shows that an intensive multifactorial intervention for screen-detected diabetes aimed at decreasing glucose and lipid levels and blood pressure was not associated with a reduction in risk for all-cause or cardiovascular mortality or morbidity compared with standard treatment.
The USPSTF posted draft recommendations for public comment in October 2014. The Task Force is currently incorporating public comment to finalize those recommendations for future release.