The number of adults who have pre-diabetes, a condition that can lead to type 2 diabetes, is expected to rise by roughly 20 per cent under new criteria being laid out next month in the journal Diabetes Care.
The new criteria have been compiled by an international expert committee set up to reexamine the classification and diagnostic criteria for diabetes.
Under the new definition, the cutpoint for normal fasting blood glucose levels was dropped from 110 mg/dl to 100 mg/dl, meaning that a value of 100 mg/dl or above would lead to a diagnosis of impaired fasting glucose (IFG), which is included in the term pre-diabetes.
Pre-diabetes is diagnosed when blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. Studies show that many people who fall in the pre-diabetic range will go on to develop diabetes within 10 years.
"Lowering the threshold should help pick up more people who are at increased risk for developing diabetes," said Dr Saul Genuth, professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, who chaired the committee. "What's important about that is that we now know -- through studies such as the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and the Finnish Diabetes Study -- that we can prevent or delay the progression to diabetes from impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), the original component with the term pre-diabetes, through intensive lifestyle treatment, such as exercise and diet therapy."
"We hope, but don't yet know, that intervening earlier might also reduce the risk of diabetic complications, including cardiovascular complications," he added.
People with pre-diabetes have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to people with blood glucose levels in the normal range. The DPP and other studies have shown that people with pre-diabetes can prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes by up to 58 per cent through changes to their lifestyle that include modest weight loss and regular exercise.
The committee did not redefine the criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes.