Performance of the FINDRISC tool in screening for diabetes in a primary care setting

Abstract

Introduction: the global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is on the rise worldwide. Identification of persons at high risk for the disease may aid in disease prevention. The study aimed to ascertain the relationship of Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) score with fasting plasma glucose in detecting prediabetes and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus among adults. Methods: the study was a cross-sectional analytical study involving 187 adults aged 18 years and above attending the General Out-Patient Clinic of the Federal Medical Centre Keffi. Subjects were recruited by systematic random sampling. Their diabetes risk assessment was done using the FINDRISC scoring system and fasting plasma glucose carried out for each participant. The relationship between the FINDRISC score and the fasting plasma glucose was analysed using linear regression. The diagnostic accuracies were analysed using two by two contingency tables. Results: the mean age of the participants was 38.5 years, the rate of pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes was 18.7% and 7.5% respectively. There was a positive correlation between the fasting plasma glucose and diabetes risk score with a Pearson´s correlation (r = 0.52, p < 0.001). The sensitivity of the FINDRISC score for detecting pre-diabetes alone at a cut-off point of ≥17 was 80.7%, with a specificity of 96.5%. The positive predictive value was 83.3%, with a negative predictive value of 95.8%. The AUROC was 0.89 and the diagnostic accuracy was 93.6%. The positive likelihood ratio was 22.9, with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.20, while the diagnostic odds ratio was 105. Conclusion: the FINDRISC score was a useful non-invasive and practical tool to screen for undetected diabetes and future development of diabetes in primary care.