FINDRISC Modified for Latin America as a Screening Tool for Persons with Impaired Glucose Metabolism in Ciudad...

The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) includes anthropometric, metabolic, and lifestyle factors that predict type 2 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the FINDRISC modified for Latin America (LA-FINDRISC) as a screening tool for persons with impaired glucose metabolism in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.

Subjects aged between 18 and 70 years of both sexes without known diabetes were invited to participate. After informed consent, they were screened with the LA-FINDRISC questionnaire and then given an oral glucose tolerance test, using the American Diabetes Association criteria for diagnosis. To obtain the cutoff point of LA-FINDRISC for predicting impaired glucose regulation, a receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed.

A total of 200 subjects were evaluated, 64.5% female, with a mean age of 35.20 ± 13.84 years. Of these, 158 (79%) did not present with carbohydrate metabolism disorder, while 42 (21%) did. Age (p = 0.0001), body mass index (p = 0.011), and waist circumference (p = 0.031) were significantly higher in subjects with impaired glucose regulation when compared to those without it. There were a significantly greater number of sedentary (p = 0.039) and hypertensive subjects (p = 0.0001), as well as those with a history of glucose >100 mg/dL (p = 0.0001), in the impaired glucose metabolism group. A cutoff LA-FINDRISC of 14 points predicted a high risk of impaired glucose regulation with a sensitivity of 45.2% and a specificity of 89.9%.

A LA-FINDRISC >14 points had low sensitivity but high specificity for predicting carbohydrate metabolism disorders in this group of patients from Ciudad Bolívar.