Pilot study for a diabetes detection program based upon rapid glucose microanalysis of postprandial capillary blood.

A pilot study was undertaken for a diabetes detection program based upon quantitative microanalysis for glucose of postprandial finger-tip blood from subjects attending a tuberculosis preventive survey. A glucose level of over 120 mg./100 ml. was regarded as a positive screen test. Fifty of the 967 subjects in the pilot study had positive tests. Ten of these were excluded from follow-up because of age and a borderline screen test, and eight refused follow-up or could not be traced. Glucose tolerance tests on the remaining subjects who "screened" positive indicated that 1% of the original number had had false-positive screen tests, while 1% were diabetic and 0.5% were possibly diabetic. These data indicate that this screening method is sufficiently sensitive to detect most of the individuals with undiagnosed diabetes in the population, without picking up an undue number of subjects who have slight abnormalities of glucose metabolism without known clinical significance.