"5 million at risk of type 2 diabetes"

The BBC has published an article this morning explaining Public Health England data showing that 5 million adults in the UK are at risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.  The article refers to people having "pre-diabetes".  You can read it on the BBC wesbite

We thought it would be helpful to clarify "pre-diabetes" and so have reproduced the below from the Diabetes UK website.  Remember that we're always here to help and support people living with and at risk of diabetes so if you need information or someone to talk to, please get in touch.

Prediabetes: what’s it all about?

During the last few weeks, prediabetes has been talked about a lot in the media. But there is still some uncertainty around what it actually means.

Here Simon O’Neill, Director of Healthcare and Professional Liaison, explains just why it’s important that we identify people who have a high chance of getting Type 2 diabetes and do all we can to help them avoid it if they can.

“We know that doctors use a range of terms such as prediabetes, borderline diabetes, Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG), Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) and Impaired Glucose Regulation (IGR). And these might sometimes sound confusing. Your first question might be ‘does this mean I have Type 2 diabetes?’, ‘does this mean I’ll definitely get Type 2 diabetes?’ or even ‘does this mean I’m in the clear?’

“The answer to all of these is no. You don’t have Type 2 diabetes at the moment, but you do need to act now if you want to try and avoid it.

“Simply put, these terms can all be used to explain that your blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough for you to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. They are largely based on an individual measurement of your blood glucose levels, regardless of any other factors. Having high blood glucose levels can increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and other health complications, although this is not inevitable.

“Prediabetes isn’t actually a clinical term which is recognised by the World Health Organization. In fact, the American Diabetes Association has set the level for prediabetes at a blood glucose measurement of HbA1C 5.7% (39mmol/mol) but it is the only organisation which uses this criteria. In the UK there is no defined criteria for prediabetes or borderline diabetes.

“So why do some clinicians still use it? Well we know that sometimes it can be useful when explaining your individual risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. It emphasises how serious it is to have high blood glucose levels. Between 5% and 10% of people with prediabetes go on to develop Type 2 diabetes each year.