According to The Danish Diabetes Association, around 100,000 Danes are unaware that they have type 2 diabetes, and approximately half a million Danes are estimated to have a precursor to type 2 diabetes, also known as prediabetes.
Now researchers have developed an online test that you can take at home and find out if you are at risk of having type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
"Type 2 diabetes is easy to diagnose with a blood test, but if you don't suspect you have it, you won't go to the doctor to have one done. That's why an online test at home can encourage people to see a doctor," says postdoc Daniel Yoo, DTU Sustain, who has been the driving force behind the new online test.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes in Denmark and accounts for 80 percent of all people with diabetes. Since diabetes can lead to a number of serious complications and costs Danish society at least DKK 13.3 billion per year, detecting people with prediabetes or unrecognized diabetes is an important health-promoting task.
"At The Danish Diabetes Association, we welcome any effort to detect type 2 diabetes and prediabetes earlier. The sooner we find people at risk, the better we can prevent serious complications such as cardiovascular disease, kidney failure and vision loss," says Tanja Thybo, Head of Research & Knowledge at The Danish Diabetes Association.
