Screening picks up diabetes

GPs could pick up the majority of patients with diabetes by screening high-risk groups, including hyperensives, a new study suggests .

The single-practice study, published in The British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease (October), showed most patients with diabetes are diagnosed in primary care and most patients with type 2 diabetes are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis.

Of the 154 patients with diabetes involved in the study, based at the St Leonard's Research Practice in Exeter, 134 were diagnosed in primary care, 116 with type 2 diabetes. Of these more than half were considered asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis.

During the cross-sectional study polydipsia was the most common recorded symptom followed by weight loss.