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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    How is type 2 diabetes diagnosed?

    Related Topics
    Endocrinology Type 2 Diabetes
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    Diabetes Australia

    Diabetes Australia is the national peak body for diabetes in Australia providing a single, powerful, collective voice for people living with diabetes, their families and … View Profile

    Diabetes is diagnosed by a blood test. Many people with type 2 diabetes will present with symptoms of diabetes such as: increased thirst, urination and tiredness. Some people will also have signs of slow healing of wounds or persistent infections. However many people with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms at all.

    The blood test is taken from a vein and sent to a pathology lab. The test may be either a fasting test (no food or fluid except water for eight hours), e.g. overnight, or a random test taken anytime during the day, or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT).

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  • Dr Amer Gilani

    GP (General Practitioner)

    I am working as a GP for more than 15 years. I have worked in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Australia. I can speak English, Urdu, … View Profile

    If the blood glucose level is higher than normal in case of Fasting blood and impaired glucose tolerance the HbA 1c is the test to be done this is now the standard for diagnosis of Diabetes

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  • Claire Kerslake

    Credentialled Diabetes Educator (CDE), Diabetes Educator

    Claire Kerslake is a Credentialed Diabetes Educator, Registered Nurse and Health Coach based in Deniliquin in country New South Wales. Claire is the founder of … View Profile

    To add to the excellent answer above, it is important that we have a much higher awareness of the likelihood of type 2 diabetes and discuss with our doctor about when to have the test.  Risk factors include being overweight, getting older, having a family history of type 2 diabetes and having had gestational diabetes.  Just the fact that around 60% of the population is now overweight has really increased the number of people with type 2 diabetes.

    The other thing to note is not to use a friend's blood glucose meter to test yourself to see if you have diabetes.  Apart from the infection control risks, at times, this test may be normal at the time of the test but in fact you may actually have diabetes.  While this practice used to be widespread with community organisations in the past, it is not recommended because of this.

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  • Dr Stephen Leow

    HealthShare Member

    In addition, there is, on the horizon, HbA1c. This is a single blood test and is currently used in America to diagnose diabetes. The OGTT (Glucose Tolerance Test) is somewhat tedious and can be replaced by this blood test. The HbA1c is usually used to monitor glucose control in diabetes.

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