Risk assessment for type 2 diabetes should now be carried out from the age of 40
October 8, 2009Risk assessment for type 2 diabetes should begin from the age of 40 - instead of 50, according to new guidelines which are currently being relayed to rural and remote health practitioners around Australia to assist with the primary prevention, case detection and diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
The new treatment guidelines suggest that health practitioners should use the recently developed Australian Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool (AUSDRISK) to assess the risk of undiagnosed diabetes and this should begin from age 40 among the general population - and more specifically from age 18 among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Health Education Foundation, Don Perlgut, says the Foundation’s program on the new guidelines will mean rural and remote health practitioners have access to the new recommendations which have been developed in order to improve outcomes for the treatment and management of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes expert and Executive Director for the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at the University of NSW, Professor Mark Harris, says by updating rural health practitioners on the benefits of the new AUSDRISK Tool it will allow patients to not only determine whether they have type 2 diabetes, but if they are at risk of developing it.
He says: “When you consider that up to 60% of cases of type 2 diabetes are preventable and we are able to use new tools such as AUSDRISK to identify an individual’s risk of developing the disease - it can make such a critical difference to a person’s life as well as that of their family.”
Harris explains that under the initial treatment guidelines developed ten years ago, patients were routinely assessed from the age of 50 - but now new research and evidence points to the age of 40 as being a more significant time to assess people who may be at risk of developing the disease, as well as identifying poor lifestyle habits which may also influence those around them.
He says: “There is little doubt that the risk assessment age now being dropped to 40 will have significant flow-on benefits for other family members who may be unwillingly at risk of developing the disease by mirroring the lifestyle habits adopted by their partners or parents. Children in particular watch and learn from their parents – so for that reason, the sooner changes are made to improve their lifestyle, the better.”
“And once a person’s risk of having or developing type 2 diabetes is assessed, we can offer them access to a range of valuable programs that can educate and empower them to make the right choices to avoid the disease ever developing,” Harris adds.
The new type 2 diabetes treatment and management guidelines match recommended patient treatment with the latest evidence and research and have been endorsed by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
A series of four programs on the new Guidelines is being satellite broadcast and web-cast by the Rural Health Education Foundation, providing an educational package for all rural and remote health practitioners which includes key practice points and goals for patient treatment.
The series continues to air between September and November 2009, with each program covering specific sections of the guidelines.
Each broadcast/webcast includes live panel discussions with leading clinicians in the area of diabetes as well as filmed case studies which showcase innovative approaches to best practice prevention, diagnosis and management of type 2 diabetes.
The third program will focus on the two guidelines involving primary prevention, case detection and diagnosis and will be broadcast and webcast to rural and remote health professionals on October 13.
The final program in the series will focus on diabetes in relation to Indigenous Australians and is scheduled to air in November. Following that, free DVD copies of the whole series will be available.