The German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) has updated the online version of its German Diabetes Risk Score and has optimized it for mobile devices. The test now takes into account the familial predisposition and is immediately accessible free of charge, both in German and English, at http://drs.dife.de/. The update is based on scientific results that the researchers at DIfE published jointly with colleagues from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.
Advantages of the test
The Diabetes Risk Score was created in 2007, and since then it has been continuously developed further by DIfE and DZD scientists. The test is based on the data of the Potsdam EPIC study, a long-term study of diet and health, in which more than 27,000 women and men are participating. By means of the test, adults can easily, quickly and very precisely determine their personal risk of developing type 2 diabetes within the next five years. One of the main advantages of the online test is that at the end of the test you are given individually customized recommendations on how to reduce your risk. You can try out directly how much you can influence your risk, for example by lowering the value you entered for your waist circumference, or by increasing your value for whole wheat bread consumption. Another new feature is that you can compare your test result on a graph with an average person of the same age and sex. This helps you to better assess your personal result in the appropriate context.
Why it's important to know your personal diabetes risk
The disease develops slowly over years so that it is often detected too late - namely not until there is already end organ damage. Whoever takes the test and detects an elevated or even a high risk can undertake measures to counteract the outbreak of the disease and even undergo diabetic drug treatment if necessary. The disease and the resulting damage can be prevented or at least significantly delayed by early and targeted preventive or therapeutic measures. You can find out how to take simple measures to prevent the disease at https://pc14.dife.de/get/tvwssp.
Type 2 diabetes and its serious consequences
In Germany around six million people are affected by diabetes. Of these, more than 90 percent suffer from type 2 diabetes. This is not a trivial disorder - if untreated it can lead to blindness, amputations, kidney failure, heart attacks or stroke. According to the Robert Koch Institute, diabetes is one of the most expensive chronic diseases and burdens the German health system with costs running into the billions
Global gap in diabetes prevalence and treatment has widened since 1990