Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2008 Feb 7:8:37.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-8-37.

Informing patients of familial diabetes mellitus risk: How do they respond? A cross-sectional survey

Nadeem Qureshi  1 , Joe Kai
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Informing patients of familial diabetes mellitus risk: How do they respond? A cross-sectional survey

Nadeem Qureshi et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: A strong family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) confers increased DM risk. This survey analysis determined whether patients who were informed by their doctors of familial DM risk acknowledged that risk and took steps to reduce it.

Methods: We conducted an analysis of the National Health Styles 2004 mail survey. All non-diabetic participants who responded to the question of whether their doctor had or had not informed them of their familial DM risk (n = 3,323) were compared for their risk-reducing behaviour and attitude to DM risk.

Results: Forty-one percent (n = 616) of the question responders that had DM family histories were informed by their doctors of their familial risk; the chance of being informed increased with the number of relatives that had the disease. Members of the informed group were more likely than those in the non-informed group to report lifestyle changes to prevent DM (odds ratio [OR] 4.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.5-5.2) and being tested for DM (OR 2.9, 95% CI 2.4-3.6), although no significant improvement occurred in their U.S.-recommended exercise activity (OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.7-1.1). Overall, informed responders recognised both their familial and personal DM risk; most discussed diabetes with their family (69%), though less so with friends (42%); however, 44% of them still did not consider themselves to be at risk.

Conclusion: Responders who were informed by their doctors of being at familial DM risk reported greater incidences of lifestyle changes, DM screening, and awareness of risk than non-informed responders. Doctors were more likely to inform patients with stronger DM family histories. Identifying this higher risk group, either in isolation or in combination with other recognised risk factors, offers doctors the opportunity to target limited health promotion resources efficiently for primary DM prevention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Behavior of question respondents: comparing those informed of familial diabetes mellitus (DM) risk against those not informed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Boyle JP, Honeycutt AA, Narayan KM, Hoerger TJ, Geiss LS, Chen H, Thompson TJ. Projection of diabetes burden through 2050: impact of changing demography and disease prevalence in the U.S. Diabetes Care. 2001;24:1936–1940. doi: 10.2337/diacare.24.11.1936. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Williamson DF, Vinicor F, Bowman BA, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Primary Prevention Working G. Primary prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by lifestyle intervention: implications for health policy. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2004;140:951–957. - PubMed
    1. Diabetes Prevention Program Research G. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP): description of lifestyle intervention. Diabetes Care. 2002;25:2165–2171. doi: 10.2337/diacare.25.12.2165. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Knowler WC, Barrett-Connor E, Fowler SE, Hamman RF, Lachin JM, Walker EA, Nathan DM, Diabetes Prevention Program Research G. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin.[see comment] New England Journal of Medicine. 2002;346:393–403. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa012512. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tuomilehto J, Lindstrom J, Eriksson JG, Valle TT, Hamalainen H, Ilanne-Parikka P, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi S, Laakso M, Louheranta A, Rastas M, Salminen V, Uusitupa M, Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study G. Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance.[see comment] New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;344:1343–1350. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200105033441801. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types