Expanding Diabetes Screening to Identify Undiagnosed Cases Among Emergency Department Patients

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Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes screening traditionally occurs in primary care settings, but many who are at high risk face barriers to accessing care and therefore delays in diagnosis and treatment. These same high-risk patients do frequently visit emergency departments (ED) and, therefore, might benefit from screening at that time. Our objective in this study was to analyze one year of results from a multisite, ED-based diabetes screening program. Methods: We assessed the demographics of patients screened, identified differences in rates of newly diagnosed diabetes by clinical site, and the geographic distribution of high and low hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) results. Results: We performed diabetes screening (HbA1c) among 4,211 ED patients 40–70 years old, with a body mass index ≥25, and no prior history of diabetes. Of these patients screened for diabetes, 9% had a HbA1c result consistent with undiagnosed diabetes, and nearly half of these patients had a HbA1c ≥9.0%. Rates of newly diagnosed diabetes were notably higher at EDs located in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Emergency department-based diabetes screening may be a practical and scalable solution to screen high-risk patients and reduce health disparities experienced in specific neighborhoods and demographic groups.

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APA

Lee, D. C., Reddy, H., Koziatek, C. A., Klein, N., Chitnis, A., Creary, K., … Caldwell, R. (2023). Expanding Diabetes Screening to Identify Undiagnosed Cases Among Emergency Department Patients. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 24(5), 962–966. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.59957

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