To the Editor: Both the American Diabetes Association (ADA)1 and the World Health Organization (WHO)2 have lowered the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level for the diagnosis of diabetes from 7.8 mmol/L to 7.0 mmol/L. The Australian Diabetes Society (ADS) has also adopted the lower level.3 However, these organisations differ in the procedure for diagnosis they recommend. The recent article by Hilton and colleagues4 compared these procedures, with particular attention to including an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). We, on the other hand, have investigated the impact of lowering the diagnostic FPG level to 7.0 mmol/L.
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- 1. American Diabetes Association. Report of the expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 1997; 20: 1183-1197.
- 2. World Health Organization. Definition, diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus and its complications. Report of a WHO Consultation. Part 1: diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Geneva: World Health Organization Department of Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance, 1999: 1-59.
- 3. Colagiuri S, Colagiuri R, Ward J. National diabetes strategy and implementation plan. Canberra: Diabetes Australia, 1998.
- 4. Hilton DJ, O'Rourke PK, Welborn TA, Reid CM. Diabetes detection in Australian general practice: a comparison of diagnostic criteria. Med J Aust 2002; 176: 104-107. <eMJA full text>
- 5. Henry MJ, Pasco JA, Nicholson GC, et al. Prevalence of osteoporosis in Australian women: Geelong Osteoporosis Study. J Clin Densitom 2000; 3: 261-268.
Acknowledgement: The study was supported by grants from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.