Men twice as likely to have undiagnosed diabetes

A study of more than 6,700 adults aged 52 to 79 published in the journal Diabetic Medicine found that, of the numbers with type 2 diabetes, 22% of men were unaware they had the condition compared with 12% of women

Study leader Dr Mary Pierce, from University College London, said: “The higher numbers of men with undiagnosed diabetes in this study may be explained by the fact that women go to their GP more often and are therefore screened more often.

“There needs to be much greater testing of overweight and obese people as well as those with other risk factors for diabetes.”

The research also suggested that people have a greater risk of undiagnosed diabetes if they had a high Body Mass Index - a measurement of weight related to height, a large waist, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment.