Diabetes is one of the occult diseases which needs widespread awareness among people. It must be diagnosed as early as possible, especially in persons who have a family history of diabetes, are obese, in women who have given birth to overweight/ stillborn/ abnormal babies, and/or have elevated blood sugar, or pass sugar in urine during the period of pregnancy. Such persons are called prediabetics. An effective control of the disease is of vital importance so that prediabetics do not become diabetics and those who are suffering from diabetes are able to keep their blood sugar levels normal.

The only way to detect the problem is to. check the blood sugar levels of all persons irrespective of their age. The reasons being that the duration of diabetes has a cumulative effect, adding to the complications of the disease later. An early detection helps control the disease immediately, and various complications can be prevented or reversed through timely detection and treatment.

Since the disease has no symptoms in the beginning, as in the case of hypertension, and in many other diseases, mass surveys of the population, for checking blood sugar levels, are of the utmost importance for diagnosing it in time.

This holds true in other parts of the world as well. Diabetes is a world-wide problem, and the author is reminded of an incident while he was in New York in 1982. He noted a crowd at a public place/crossing where blood sugar levels of all passersby were being checked with the help of a tiny blood glucose meter. It can be successfully applied in mass checking, for quick results. The author also conducted similar check-ups, by holding medical camps for early detection of diabetes, hypertension, various cancers, etc. and recommends that such camps are organized by various physicians/voluntary organizations/institutes so as to curb the menace right at the beginning.

A fasting, and preferably postprandial, i.e. 2 hours after meals called 2-hour postprandial glucose test, is required for finding out hidden cases of diabetes. The results of blood sugar estimation are required to be interpreted by the biochemist/ physician as these are likely to differ depending upon the sample of the blood used for the test, i.e., whether venous whole blood, capillary whole blood (finger prick blood) or venous plasma, has been used. Similarly, the results are bound to differ with the method/kit applied for the test.

However, one simple way would be that if a sample of urine, taken two hours after meals (the person should be advised to evacuate/empty the urinary bladder before taking meals to avoid the mixing of previously collected urine with the urine which is stored within two hours after taking the food), shows the presence of sugar, it is a good indication that the blood must be tested for establishing a diagnosis of diabetes.

A strip may be used for immediate testing of sugar in urine. It is a small strip, the end of which is coated with testing material. The coated end is dipped in urine which gives instantaneous reading of the changed color. One may even just wet the end of this strip while passing urine. Care should be taken that the reagent on the strip is not washed away with the force of the stream of urine. The last drops of urine should be enough for just wetting the reagent part of the strip. Such strips are readily available with different names like Diastix, etc. The detailed instructions are provided for the ready reference of people.

There is another method for testing urine for sugar which needs to be interpreted carefully for early detection of cases of diabetes. In this test, in a 5 ml of Benedict's reagent 8 drops of urine are added in a test tube. The tube is put on a flame to boiling point. The normal color of the solution is light blue. Any change in color of the solution is noted. It may be green, greenish-yellow, yellowish-red, red, depending upon the level of blood sugar/severity of the disease. It is mild when the color is green. It may be cautioned that this green color may also appear when the patient is taking drugs like aspirin, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, etc. However, a blood sugar estimation will clear the diagnosis of diabetes.