Can Waist-to-Height Ratio and Health Literacy Be Used in Primary Care for Prioritizing Further Assessment of People at T2DM Risk?

Elín Arnardóttir (), Árún K. Sigurðardóttir, Marit Graue, Beate-Christin Hope Kolltveit and Timothy Skinner
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Elín Arnardóttir: School of Health, Business and Natural Sciences, University of Akureyri, 600 Akureyri, Iceland
Árún K. Sigurðardóttir: School of Health, Business and Natural Sciences, University of Akureyri, 600 Akureyri, Iceland
Marit Graue: Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5063 Bergen, Norway
Beate-Christin Hope Kolltveit: Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5063 Bergen, Norway
Timothy Skinner: Institute of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, 1017 Copenhagen K, Denmark

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: Background: To identify people at risk of type 2 diabetes. Primary health care needs efficient and noninvasive screening tools to detect individuals in need of follow-up to promote health and well-being. Previous research has shown people with lower levels of health literacy and/or well-being scores are vulnerable but may benefit from intervention and follow-up care. Aims: This cross-sectional study, aimed to identify people at risk for type 2 diabetes by comparing the Finnish Diabetes Risk instrument with the waist-to-height ratio. Further, the difference was examined in health literacy and well-being scale scores in the countryside versus town areas, respectively. Results: In total, 220, aged 18–75 years, participated. Thereof, 13.2% displayed biomarkers at prediabetes level of HbA1c (39–47 mmol/mol); none had undiagnosed diabetes. Of the participants, 73% were overweight or obese. Waist-to-height ratio demonstrated 93.1% of the prediabetes group at moderate to high health risk and 64.4% of the normal group, with an area under the curve of 0.759, sensitivity of 93.3%, and specificity of 63.1%. Residency did not influence prediabetes prevalence, health literacy, or well-being. Conclusion: Waist-to-height ratio and the Finnish Diabetes Risk instrument may be suitable for identifying who need further tests and follow-up care for health promotion in primary care.

Keywords: prediabetes; countryside/town; screening; well-being; type 2 diabetes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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