Journal Article

The prediabetes conundrum: striking the balance between risk and resources

Ziegler, Dan, Færch, Kristine, Blond, Martin B., Herder, Christian, Stehouwer, Coen D. A.

2023

Overview

The current definition of prediabetes is controversial and subject to continuous debate. Nonetheless, prediabetes is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, is highly prevalent and is associated with diabetic complications and mortality. Thereby, it has the potential to become a huge strain on healthcare systems in the future, necessitating action from legislators and healthcare providers. But how do we best reduce its associated burden on health? As a compromise between differing opinions in the literature and among the authors of this article, we suggest stratifying individuals with prediabetes according to estimated risk and only offering individual-level preventive interventions to those at high risk. At the same time, we argue to identify those with prediabetes and already established diabetes-related complications and treat them as we would treat individuals with established type 2 diabetes. Graphical abstract

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Diabetes / Diabetes Complications - complications / Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent) / Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications / Disease prevention / For Debate / Health care / Health risks / Human Physiology / Humans / Hyperglycemia / Internal Medicine / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Metabolic Diseases / Metabolic syndrome / Prediabetic State - complications / Risk Factors