USING THE WORLD-WIDE-WEB - A NEW APPROACH TO RISK IDENTIFICATION OF DIABETES-MELLITUS

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem with a rising tendency wor ld-wide. A new strategy for risk evaluation and data collection of und iagnosed non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) using the Wor ld Wide Web (WWW) is presented. An easy-to-handle questionnaire on typ ical risk factors was converted into an interactive WWW document. The Internet provides the suitable platform for the net-based distribution of the questionnaire form as well as the computer-assisted entering a nd interpretation of the data (http:www.uni-leipzig.de/ similar to dia betes). The analysis program, installed on our WWW server, interprets the information and sends the assessment on-line back to the inquiring user PC. The data are also collected anonymously in a database for ep idemiological studies. In the test period, 744 world-wide accesses wer e registered: 433 men, mean age 39.8 +/- 14.4 years (range 10-83) and 311 women, mean age 36.7 +/- 12.7 years (range 11-77). An increased ri sk for undiagnosed diabetes was identified to 43.6%. The risk profile of male and female users showed no significant gender-related differen ces. Using the WWW technology can support early detection and adequate treatment of undiagnosed diabetes. This innovative strategy to screen for a high risk profile is an useful, cost-effective and up-to-date t ool for broad community health education and epidemiological studies w orld-wide. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.