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

Introduction: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.