These results are very interesting as the UK has an estimated one million people with undiagnosed diabetes

Diabetes UK

Diabetes may go undiagnosed for years, damaging organs throughout the body, until symptoms appear.

Diabetes UK, one of the UK's leading diabetes charities, says that on average, people have diabetes for between nine and 12 years before it is detected.

As a result many people with the adult-onset form are already in poor condition by the time it is diagnosed.

It is estimated that in the UK two out of three diabetics die unnecessarily from complications which could have been successfully treated.

At any time, an estimated one million people in the UK have diabetes - but do not know it.

Early detection

Therefore, early detection of the condition is vital.

The current blood sugar test requires several hours of prior fasting and cannot always be administered on the spot.

Researchers from Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, led by Dr David Edelman, tested a new screening technique called HgA1c.

This test accurately indicates blood sugar levels over the previous two to three months and can detect at least 75% of cases of diabetes, but does not require fasting.

The researchers gave the test to 1,253 patients who had never been diagnosed with diabetes.

It was found that 4.5% had diabetes, which had gone undetected even though they were under medical care.

The researchers say the test would detect almost as many cases of undiagnosed diabetes if performed only on patients with one or more of three risk factors:

• obesity
• self-reported high blood pressure
• family history of the disease