Diabetes study reveals diagnosis gap affecting millions of people

Researchers analyzed how many people with diabetes are undiagnosed, untreated, receiving suboptimal care or achieving optimal blood sugar control, broken down by age, sex, location and year.

The researchers found that about 44% of people aged 15 and older with diabetes remain undiagnosed.

"Many people would not have signs or symptoms until their diabetes is very advanced, and many people are not going to the doctor often or at all for lab work," Tanya Freirich, a registered dietitian nutritionist in North Carolina, told Fox News Digital. (She was not involved in the study.)

Geography plays a powerful role in diagnosis rates. In wealthier countries like the United States and Canada, diagnosis rates are higher, though challenges remain in long-term management of the disease.

Lead author Lauryn Stafford, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said these numbers should set off alarms for governments and health systems worldwide.

"By 2050, 1.3 billion people are expected to be living with diabetes, and if nearly half don't know they have a serious and potentially deadly health condition, it could easily become a silent epidemic," she said in a press release.

For some people with prediabetes, early treatment as well as moderate lifestyle changes can return blood glucose (blood sugar) levels to a normal range, effectively preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

It is difficult to be exact about the number of people who are undiagnosed, experts say.

"Those are data points that are unable to be confirmed until diagnosed," Frierich said. "While I do not doubt the accuracy of the tool [used in the study], there may be unknown factors that are not included in the model."

The dietitian recommends that everyone has a semi-regular health check.