“With more people developing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes at a younger age, it’s also critical that much more is done to find the missing millions who either have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes but are completely unaware of it.”.
“Non-diabetic hyperglycaemia, more commonly known as prediabetes, means that a person’s blood sugars are higher than usual, but not high enough for them to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,” says Douglas Twenefour, head of clinical at Diabetes UK.
“Some of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes include living with obesity, being over the age of 40, or 25 for those from African-Caribbean, Black African or South Asian communities, living with a high waist measurement, or having an immediate family member with diabetes.
“Prediabetes doesn’t have any symptoms, and if you start to have any of the signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes which can include going to the toilet more often, especially at night, and feeling tired, it means you have probably already developed it,” says Twenefour.
The charity also estimates that an additional 1.3 million people have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes, while around 6.3 million are living with prediabetes.
