Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2010
Screening for type 2 diabetes with random finger-prick glucose and bedside HbA1c in an Australian emergency department.
To determine if screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and pre-diabetes is feasible in an Australian ED; to estimate the prevalence of T2DM and pre-diabetes in the Australian ED population. ⋯ This inner city tertiary ED has a high prevalence of T2DM, diagnosed and undiagnosed, with over a quarter of our population probably affected [corrected]. Although ED screening might have a high yield, opportunistic screening is not feasible, with difficulties in staff engagement and patient follow up for diagnostic testing. Future studies might consider finger-prick fasting blood glucose through a patient's general practitioner for diagnosis.