The frequency with which you should be checked for
diabetes depends upon your degree of risk, your age, and lifestyle factors. Even if you have a strong family history of type 1 diabetes, your risk of developing
it is still only about 5% and is much lower after the age of 35. Furthermore,
type
1
diabetes
usually presents
with
obvious symptoms, such as those described in Ques-
tion 21, and is unlikely to be missed. Since there is presently little that can be done to prevent type 1 dia- betes, screening is usually not performed. If
you have a strong family history of type 2 diabetes, the frequency
with which
you should
be screened also depends on
age and lifestyle factors.
If you are young (younger
than 30), physically active, and lean, then you are not at high risk and regular screening is not necessary. As
you get older, especially if
you get more sedentary
and gain weight, as most of us do, then regular
screening is advisable. Since screening
for diabetes with a fasting
or random blood glucose
measurement is rapid and inex-
pensive, there is no reason not to perform it at least
annually in individuals at high risk and every 2 to 3
years in those at lesser, but still significant, risk. In
general, all pregnant women should
be screened for gestational
diabetes between 24 and 28 weeks of preg- nancy. Some authorities
exclude younger (younger than 25 years old) women,
who are otherwise at low
risk,
from the need for screening.
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