Ask the Expert: Pre-diabetes. How regularly do we need to check for it?

Question:

What are some common symptoms of pre-diabetes? How regularly do we need to check for it?

Answer:

In prediabetes, blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes often refers to impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance depending on the blood test used. Prediabetes can only be detected by blood test as it usually has no symptoms. Those who are at risk of getting diabetes (eg. age above 40 years, have family members with diabetes, have high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol) should be screened for diabetes once every three years. If prediabetes is detected, then screening blood test for diabetes should be performed annually.