Identifying Population at Risk for Diabetes Mellitus through International Diabetes Federation Questionnaire - A Simple Yet Valuable Tool.

ABSTRACT

"Prevention is better than cure." This strategy cannot be overemphasized than in diabetes mellitus (DM). We utilized the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) questionnaire, with additional modifications, to assess the risk of DM to identify the population at risk, based on non-laboratory evaluation. MATERIAL: This study was conducted on the occasion of WDD 2021, a 3-day diabetes awareness program in the Department of General Medicine at a tertiary care hospital. All people aged ≥18 years were eligible to participate. Participants with history of a diagnosis of DM anytime or already on anti-diabetic medications and those who did not consent were excluded. We utilized the IDF questionnaire with 8 questions including non modifiable (age, gender, family history, gestational DM, hypertension) and modifiable risk factors (body mass index, waist circumference, physical activity, high fiber diet). We added two more questions - willingness to participate (volunteered or easily convinced) and history of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) infection. OBSERVATION A total of 442 participants were screened; 319 (72.2%) participants were young (<45 years), 231 (52.3%) of them were females, 358 (81%) volunteered to participate in the study and 50 (11.3%) of them had COVID infection during the pandemic. Around 211 (47.7%) were obese (BMI >25 kg/m2). As per risk categories, 196 (44.3%) participants belonged to low (1 in 100) risk, 173 (39.1%) participants belonged to the slightly elevated (25 in 100) risk category, 46 (10.4%) moderate (1 in 6) risk and 27 (6.1) high (1 in 3) risk category, contributing totally to 246 (55.7%) participants. Risk factors were higher in higher risk categories; 67.9% (167/246; p < 0.001) of participants had obesity (BMI>25) and 79.2% (195/246; p < 0.001) had higher waist circumference (in both genders; p < 0.001). Favorable diet pattern was observed in 69.9% (137/196; p < 0.001) of low risk category participants and inclination to regular physical activity was observed in 73% (143/196; p < 0.001) of low risk category participants. CONCLUSION: Risk scoring system is a quick, cost effective, practical and non-invasive method, helpful to identify the population at risk for early intervention. It aids in primordial prevention of DM in low risk and primary prevention in categories with increased risk. It is apt for community screening as it does not involve laboratory tests and it can be implemented in primary health care centers.