Screening for type 2 diabetes with random finger‐prick glucose and bedside HbA1c in an Australian emergency department

Objective: To determine if screening for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and pre‐diabetes is feasible in an Australian ED; to estimate the prevalence of T2DM and pre‐diabetes in the Australian ED population. Methods: Prospective cross‐sectional prevalence survey in the ED of St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, an adult, tertiary referral centre seeing approximately 40 000 patients annually. A convenience sample of adult patients was screened with finger‐prick random blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c); those over 6.0 mmol/L and 6.0% were referred for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Diagnoses of T2DM and pre‐diabetes were made according to World Health Organization definitions. Those not attending for OGTT were contacted by phone, and interviewed about their reasons. Results: Seven hundred and twenty‐five patients were recruited; 135 (18.6%; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 15.9–21.6%) had known T2DM, leaving 590 screened, of whom 210 screened positive. Of the 192 referred for OGTT, 147 (77%) did not attend despite several telephone reminders. Of the 45 (23%) completing OGTT, pre‐diabetes was present in eight (17.8%; 95% CI 9.0–31.6%) and T2DM in six (13.3%; 95% CI 5.9–26.6%). Many people interviewed (18/86, 21%) did not attend for OGTT on the advice of their doctors. Conclusions: This inner city tertiary ED has a high prevalence of T2DM, diagnosed and undiagnosed, with as much as half our population possibly affected. Although ED screening might have a high yield, opportunistic screening is not feasible, with difficulties in staff engagement and patient follow up for diagnostic testing. Future studies might consider finger‐prick fasting blood glucose through a patient's general practitioner for diagnosis.