Diabetes risk is often criminally underestimated

Many people underestimate their own diabetes risk
While, for example, the fear of cancer is extremely widespread, in diabetes, the concern about their own illness often seems rather low. In fact, the risk of diabetes is often underestimated and many people assess their health in this regard too optimistic, so the result of a recent study at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE).

According to the motto "Only the others get sick", many people do not believe in their own diabetes disorder. "Many people who already have high blood sugar levels or even undiagnosed diabetes underestimate the likelihood of getting diabetes or being ill," says the UDE. The research team led by Bernd Kowall from the University of Duisburg-Essen and Wolfgang Rathmann from the German Center for Diabetes Research has investigated in his current study to what extent the self-assessment of the risk of diabetes corresponds to the actual condition of the patients. The researchers published their findings in the journal "PLOS One".

A recent analysis shows that many people have diabetes without knowing it. (Image: 6okean / fotolia.com)

2,000 subjects examined
The scientists used the data of the so-called KORA study (KORA = Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg region) for their study and looked more closely at nearly 2,000 persons who had not yet been diagnosed with diabetes and who were not taking any diabetes medication. Of the 1,953 participants, 47.8 percent were men and the average age was 59.1 years. Subjects were first asked to rate their own diabetes risk. They should assess the likelihood of pre-existing diabetes and assess whether they risk developing diabetes themselves in the future.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents do not suspect their illness
This was followed by a blood sugar test. If a previously unrecognized diabetes disease was found in this test, a closer examination of the results of the respective participants was carried out. The researchers found that 74 percent of these subjects previously classified the probability of having diabetes as low or very low, according to the release of the UDE. Also, more than "70 percent of all participants who had no diabetes, but already high blood sugar levels - a so-called prediabetes - before the blood glucose measurement, that they are no risk of later diabetes," report the doctors.

Own health too optimistic
The study results make it clear that many people assess their health status too optimistic, the researchers concluded. This could have fatal consequences in the case of prediabetes and diabetes, since those affected could, if diagnosed early, decisively influence the course of the disease through lifestyle and medication. The experts therefore call people with obesity, too little exercise, unhealthy diet, people who smoke or whose parents had diabetes, to regularly check their blood sugar levels. Thus, the risk of an unrecognized diabetes disease can be minimized significantly. (Fp)