Some patients have a blood sugar level which is higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. This is called pre-diabetesand can be identified by blood sugar (glucose) tests.
Technically, pre-diabetes may result from one of three conditions called Impaired Fasting Glycaemia, Impaired Glucose Tolerance and Increased Glycated Haemoglobin. However, the effect is the same – itmeans raised blood sugar and a higher risk of getting diabetes and heart disease. Making changes to your lifestyle can delay or even prevent the development of type 2 diabetes and reduce the risk of heart disease too. This has been shown to reduce new cases of diabetes by about 50%.
People with pre-diabetes do not usually have any symptoms. It can be diagnosed by your practice nurse or general practitioner using a blood test.
Pre-Diabetes patient information leaflet
