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
. 2019;28(4):324-332.
doi: 10.1159/000499468. Epub 2019 Mar 11.

FINDRISC Modified for Latin America as a Screening Tool for Persons with Impaired Glucose Metabolism in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela

María Carolina Muñoz-González  1 , Marcos M Lima-Martínez  2   3 , Aura Nava  1 , Gisuardo Trerotola  1 , Mariela Paoli  4 , Julio O Cabrera-Rego  5 , Briggytte Gonzalez  6 , Amilcairy Arciniegas  6 , Javier Paez  6
Affiliations

FINDRISC Modified for Latin America as a Screening Tool for Persons with Impaired Glucose Metabolism in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela

María Carolina Muñoz-González et al. Med Princ Pract. 2019.

Abstract

Objective: The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) includes anthropometric, metabolic, and lifestyle factors that predict type 2 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the FINDRISC modified for Latin America (LA-FINDRISC) as a screening tool for persons with impaired glucose metabolism in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.

Methods: Subjects aged between 18 and 70 years of both sexes without known diabetes were invited to participate. After informed consent, they were screened with the LA-FINDRISC questionnaire and then given an oral glucose tolerance test, using the American Diabetes Association criteria for diagnosis. To obtain the cutoff point of LA-FINDRISC for predicting impaired glucose regulation, a receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed.

Results: A total of 200 subjects were evaluated, 64.5% female, with a mean age of 35.20 ± 13.84 years. Of these, 158 (79%) did not present with carbohydrate metabolism disorder, while 42 (21%) did. Age (p = 0.0001), body mass index (p = 0.011), and waist circumference (p = 0.031) were significantly higher in subjects with impaired glucose regulation when compared to those without it. There were a significantly greater number of sedentary (p = 0.039) and hypertensive subjects (p = 0.0001), as well as those with a history of glucose >100 mg/dL (p = 0.0001), in the impaired glucose metabolism group. A cutoff LA-FINDRISC of 14 points predicted a high risk of impaired glucose regulation with a sensitivity of 45.2% and a specificity of 89.9%.

Conclusion: A LA-FINDRISC >14 points had low sensitivity but high specificity for predicting carbohydrate metabolism disorders in this group of patients from Ciudad Bolívar.

Keywords: Diabetes; FINDRISC; LA-FINDRISC; Prediabetes; Prevention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Method of selection and screening tests.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Study population distribution according to the presence or absence of carbohydrate metabolism disorder.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Receiver operating characteristic curve for LA-FINDRISC to predict impaired glucose regulation in the study population. PPV, positive predictive value; NPV, negative predictive value; YI, Youden index.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Carbohydrate metabolism disorder according to LA-FINDRISC cutoff value (p = 0.0001; odds ratio: 7.332; 95% CI: 3.302–16.279).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Proposed algorithm for the screening and diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. International Diabetes Federation . 8th edn. 2017. IDF Diabetes Atlas. http://www.diabetesatlas (accesed April 22, 2018) - PubMed
    1. Aschner P, Aguilar-Salinas C, Aguirre L, Franco L, Gagliardino JJ, de Lapertosa SG, et al. IDF Diabetes Atlas Diabetes in South and Central America: an update. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2014 Feb;103((2)):238–43. - PubMed
    1. Nieto-Martínez R, González-Rivas JP, Lima-Martínez M, Stepenka V, Rísquez A, Mechanick JI. Diabetes Care in Venezuela. Ann Glob Health. 2015 Nov-Dec;81((6)):776–91. - PubMed
    1. Nieto-Martínez R, Mechanick JI, Brajkovich I, Ugel E, Risques A, Florez H, et al. Prevalence of diabetes in three regions of Venezuela. The VEMSOLS study results. Prim Care Diabetes. 2018 Apr;12((2)):126–32. - PubMed
    1. Gillies CL, Lambert PC, Abrams KR, Sutton AJ, Cooper NJ, Hsu RT, et al. Different strategies for screening and prevention of type 2 diabetes in adults: cost effectiveness analysis. BMJ. 2008 May;336((7654)):1180–5. - PMC - PubMed