Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

We have written frequently on the health challenges brought on by diabetes — and the benefits of screening early. Now Reuters reports: “Earlier screening, diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes may decrease the risk of cardiovascular problems, hint results from a computer model.”

The piece is based on a new study released in Diabetes Care, a publication from the American Diabetes Association. The piece, titled “Early Detection and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Reduce Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality: A Simulation of the Results of the Anglo-Danish-Dutch Study of Intensive Treatment in People With Screen-Detected Diabetes in Primary Care,” sought “to estimate the benefits of screening and early treatment of type 2 diabetes compared with no screening and late treatment using a simulation model with data from the ADDITION-Europe study.”

The Reuters piece states that determining how early to screen for type 2 diabetes has been evolving and that “the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel on preventive healthcare, recently proposed an updated recommendation to screen people for abnormal blood sugar and type 2 diabetes if they are at an increased risk.”

The study took data from the ADDITION-Europe report and “used a computer model known as the Michigan Model to estimate what may have happened to the participants over the same five year period if they had not been screened, and their diabetes diagnoses had been delayed by three or six years,” Reuters reports.

The study concludes that “Screening for type 2 diabetes to reduce the lead time between diabetes onset and clinical diagnosis and to allow for prompt multifactorial treatment is warranted.”