TARGETED SCREENING FOR DIABETES IN COMMUNITY CHIROPODY CLINICS

Population screening for diabetes mellitus is of uncertain value. We t herefore assessed the value of screening amongst community chiropody c linic attenders in Liverpool. All attenders aged between 40 and 75 yea rs during a 3-month period were offered screening by urine glucose sel f-testing, 2 hours post-prandially, backed up with glucose tolerance t ests (GTT) for positive respondents. Of 1058 patients screened, 11 (1. 0%) reported positive results, of whom four (0.4% of total) had diabet es, and two had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Screening costs were 11p per person, pound 2.06 per 'positive' person, and pound 34.46 for each newly diagnosed patient. The screening procedure was simple and highly cost-effective, but the diagnostic returns were only moderate. This may have been because of a high rate of known diabetes amongst th e chiropody clinic attenders (17.3%). in view of this, routine widespr ead diabetes screening in chiropody clinics cannot at present be recom mended.