Diabetes risk score translation event taking place in Leicester

An event to launch the translation of a Type 2 diabetes risk assessment tool into two South Asian languages takes place in Leicester next week.

The part NIHR-funded Leicester Risk Score enables people to find out their risk of developing the condition and is recommended by health watchdog NICE, used by Diabetes UK and has attracted more than 1.1 million people online users.

The questionnaire has now been made available in Gujarati and Bangladeshi versions and both versions will officially be launched at the Leicester Diabetes Centre in Gwendolen Road, Leicester on Friday 27 January.

It will be now be used in minority communities across the East Midlands in the fight against Type 2 diabetes.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti from the Diabetes Research Centre will speak at the event and members of both communities are being encouraged to make use of the score to find out how likely they are to develop the condition – or to see if they already have it.

Data based on age, sex, BMI, ethnicity, family history and use of blood pressure drugs are used to identify people who may be at high risk of Type 2 diabetes or are currently undiagnosed. Further versions in Urdu and Gurmukhi Panjabi due out soon.

The project to translate the risk score was funded by the National Institute for Health Research’s Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) East Midlands.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Director of NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands and Professor of Primary Care Diabetes & Vascular Medicine at our University, said: “The launch to celebrate this breakthrough in delivering support to the South Asian community in the fight against Type 2 diabetes.

“The condition is more common in South Asians because of their lifestyle in terms of their diet and lower physical activity levels combined with their potentially increased genetic risk.

“We also urge members of the South Asian community to use our risk score to assess their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. It’s important people know how likely they are to develop the condition as they can make lifestyle changes to halt the progress.”

NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands is a partnership of regional health services, universities and industry which turns research into cost-saving and high-quality care through cutting-edge innovation.

The work has been supported by the Centre for BME Health East Midlands, which is working to reduce ethnic health inequality in the region by sharing resources and promoting research.

Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition where the body cannot keep blood glucose levels within a healthy range and can cause devastating complications.