Why Overweight people should get a diabetes screening as soon as possible.
According to a new recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force, if your body mass index (BMI) — a measure of body fat based on both weight and height — is 25 or higher, you should be evaluated for prediabetes and diabetes every three years starting at age 35, rather than age 40. It is hoped that by screening these people at a younger age, more cases of prediabetes and diabetes may be discovered sooner, allowing some of the disease's worst impacts to be avoided. According to the CDC, 13% of individuals in the United States have diabetes, and 34.5 percent have prediabetes.
Many people with diabetes, 21.4 percent, are unaware that they have it. In the United States, diabetes was the seventh biggest cause of mortality in 2017. If left unchecked, it can lead to kidney failure, blindness, and cardiovascular and liver disease, among other things.
Typically, diabetes screening entails testing blood sugar after an eight-hour fast or obtaining a hemoglobin A1C blood test (it can be done any time of the day). According to the advice, if you are at high risk for diabetes, your doctor may want to begin screening you at a younger age.
If you have prediabetes, lifestyle modifications including bettering your diet, exercising, and losing weight, as well as certain medications, may help you avoid or delay the onset of diabetes.
We're keeping an eye on this research.
