Should I be Tested for Diabetes?

Posted: Nov. 1, 2004

Anyone 45 years old or older should consider getting tested for diabetes. If you are 45 or older and overweight, it is strongly recommended that you get tested.

If you are younger than 45, overweight, and have one or more of the risk factors listed below, you should consider testing.

Ask your doctor for a fasting blood glucose test or an oral glucose tolerance test. Your doctor can tell if you have normal blood glucose, pre-diabetes or diabetes from the test results.

These are the risk factors to know for type 2 diabetes:

• Age 45 or older
• Being overweight
• Having a parent, brother, or sister with diabetes
• Family background that is African American, American Indian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino American or indigenous Australian
• Previously having gestational diabetes, or giving birth to at least one baby weighing more than 9 pounds
• Having high blood pressure (140/90 or higher)
• Cholesterol levels that are not at recommended levels — HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol) is 35 or lower, triglyceride level is 250 or higher
• Being fairly inactive — exercising fewer than three times a week

Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

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