Screening for type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes fulfils the criteria of the World Health Organization for screening. With a high prevalence and incidence, severe complications and increased mortality, type 2 diabetes is one of the relevant common diseases in Germany and worldwide. Screening is not the same as preventive medical examinations, because there are different basic principles and criteria for these measures. A screening program should be evaluated in terms of benefit and costs, e.g. in randomized controlled trials, taking cost-effectiveness into account. Only little evidence exists on the effectiveness of type 2 diabetes screening programs and there is still disagreement on the optimal form of organization for type 2 diabetes screening, i.e. whether population-wide or risk-based (opportunistic) screening is more effective.