Evaluation of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) for diabetes screening in occupational health care

Objectives The objective of the study was to investigate the prevalence of undiagnosed dysglycaemia and the risk for type 2 diabetes using the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) in the working population of Belgium. Moreover, it was to evaluate performance and applicability of FINDRISC as a screening tool during occupational health surveillance. Material and Methods A cross-sectional analysis was carried out over the years 2010–2011 among 275 healthy employees who underwent a health check including fasting plasma glucose and the FINDRISC questionnaire. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of different FINDRISC cut-off values to detect dysglycaemia was revised in the literature and then calculated. Results The prevalence of unknown dysglycaemia was 1.8%. Twelve percent of the employees had a FINDRISC score of 12 to 14 corresponding to a moderate risk of 17% to develop diabetes within the next 10 years, and 5.5% had a score of 15 or more corresponding to a high – very high risk of 33% to 50%. All dysglycaemic individuals had a FINDRISC score of 12 or higher. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting dysglycaemia was respectively 100% and 84.1% for a FINDRISC cut-off value ≥ 12; and 80% and 95.9% for a cut-off value ≥ 15. Conclusions A considerable number of workers had dysglycaemia or was at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The questionnaire is a reliable, valuable and easy to use screening tool in occupational health surveillance.