Outcomes of screening for diabetes in high-risk Hong Kong Chinese subjects

OBJECTIVE - To examine the significance of individual risk factors on the d evelopment of diabetes in subjects who underwent screening for diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - A total of 1,649 Chinese subjects underwent s creening for diabetes. They were asymptomatic but had known risk factors fo r diabetes, including a positive family history of diabetes, a past history of gestational diabetes, obesity hypertension, and/or dyslipidemia. Anothe r 799 age-matched subjects from the community who had no risk factors for d iabetes were used as the comparison group. RESULTS - Of the 1,649 subjects who underwent screening, 241 (14.6%) had di abetes. In these subjects, 989 (60.0%) had 1 risk factor, 502 (30.4%) had 2 risk Factors, 141 (8.6%) had 3 risk factors, and 17 (1.0%) had 4 or 5 risk factors for diabetes. Of the 799 control subjects, 29 (3.6%) had diabetes. Compared with the comparison group, the odds ratio (95% CI) of having diab etes after adjustment for age was 5.2 (3.5-7.7) in the 1,649 subjects with known risk Factors. The odds ratio of having diabetes increased from 3.7 in subjects with 1 risk factor to 28.4 in subjects with 4 or 5 risk factors. CONCLUSIONS - In men, age, BMI, family history of diabetes, and dyslipidemi a, and in women, age, BMI, hypertension, dyslipidemia, total cholesterol, a nd history of gestational diabetes are associated with increased odds of de veloping diabetes. These risk factors have additive effects on the odds of having diabetes. Early and regular screening for diabetes and other cardiov ascular risk factors is essential in these high-risk individuals.