Starting the Conversation: Patient Perceptions of Self-Assessed Type-2 Diabetes Risk

Little is known about patients' perceptions of their risk for type-2 diabetes (T2D), or if knowledge of risk could facilitate weight and diabetes prevention discussions with health care professionals.

In our academic family medicine practice, 25 patients completed a previsit T2D risk assessment on their phone and answered interview and survey questions to assess their understanding of their risk for developing T2D.

Interest in their T2D risk was high, but self-estimation of risk before obtaining their score was low (21/25 reported ≤30% chance of developing diabetes). All patients perceived T2D to be very serious, most remembered their risk score (18/23 correct) when interviewed 3-5 days later, and many reported that the score increased their motivation to prevent T2D development. Despite this, the calculated risk result was not considered accurate by 8/23 patients and only 4/23 patients shared their score during their appointment visit.

T2D risk evaluation can facilitate patient awareness of their risk and lifestyle improvement, but clinician engagement and communication are needed for interpretation, treatment, and linkage to prediabetes care.