Task Force draft recommendation supports earlier diabetes screening
The draft recommendation calls for screening patients ages 35 to 70 years who are overweight or obese. It is open for public comment through Monday, April 12.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued a draft recommendation lowering the recommended age for screening for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in overweight and obese adults.
The draft recommendation, published online March 16, calls for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes screening in patients ages 35 to 70 years who are overweight or obese. It also states that clinicians should offer effective preventive interventions to patients with prediabetes or refer them to such care. The grade B recommendation is open for comment through Monday, April 12.
The Task Force based its recommendation on a background evidence review, also published online March 16. The review looked at 89 studies published through Nov. 20, 2020, on the benefits and harms of screening for abnormal blood glucose and type 2 diabetes, as well as interventions for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. It found that interventions improved health outcomes over 10 to 20 years in patients with recently diagnosed diabetes and that interventions in obese and overweight patients with prediabetes were associated with reduced diabetes incidence and improvement in other intermediate outcomes.
The recommendation statement, once final, will replace the 2015 USPSTF recommendation statement on screening for abnormal blood glucose and type 2 diabetes in asymptomatic adults, which recommended screening for abnormal blood glucose levels as part of cardiovascular risk assessment in overweight or obese adults ages 40 to 70 years.