Performance of the finnish diabetes risk score in screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes among adults without prior diagnosis: A Kharameh Cohort Study, Iran.

Abstract

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) as a potentially valuable tool for diabetes screening and prevention.

Methods: This study utilized data from the Kharameh Cohort Study, which included 10,663 participants. Of these, 1600 individuals with known diabetes were excluded. Participants were assessed using the FINDRISC questionnaire and a fasting blood glucose test to determine their glucose metabolism status. Receiver Operating Characteristic curves evaluated the effectiveness of FINDRISC in identifying Undiagnosed Diabetes Mellitus (UDM).

Results: The prevalence of individuals with UDM was 2.2 %. The FINDRISC score was 14.18 ± 4.46 for those with UDM, compared to 9.51 ± 4.69 for those without. Women had a mean FINDRISC score of 10.99 ± 4.42, significantly higher than the mean score of 8.07 ± 4.60 for men. The overall AUC-ROC curve for diagnosing UDM was 0.767 (95 % CI: 0.735-0.800). For men, it was 0.809 (95 % CI: 0.764-0.853), while for women, it was 0.737 (95 % CI: 0.689-0.785).

Conclusions: The FINDRISC score demonstrates good accuracy in identifying individuals with UDM, making it a valuable and simple screening tool, especially in resource-limited settings. Significant gender differences were observed in the risk scores between women and men. Therefore, we recommend that screening tools be adapted to account for these gender differences, with particular attention to individuals with a family history of diabetes to improve early detection and prevention strategies.