Type 2 diabetes

Are you at risk? Take the test!

You could be diabetic, without knowing it. In Quebec, 760,000 people have this disease but 200,000 don’t know it.  Type 2 diabetes is very insidious and can be present for several years without any symptoms. That doesn’t mean that tragic consequences cannot occur.  The mere presence of diabetes can trigger health problems.

Left untreated or improperly managed, diabetes can cause cardiovascular diseases, blindness, kidney failure or the loss of a limb.  Many people have been diagnosed with diabetes while hospitalized for one of these complications.

The only way to determine that you do not have this disease is to have the blood tests requested by your doctor.  The clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of diabetes in Canada, published in 2008, recommend that everyone aged 40 and over be tested for diabetes every three years.  People who exhibit risk factors should be tested more often or earlier.

Know how to recognize the symptoms of diabetes:

• Unusual fatigue
• Excessive thirst
• Weight loss
• Frequent need to urinate

See your doctor as soon as possible to be tested.

Certain individuals are at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. This questionnaire will help you to assess some of these risks.  Pay particular attention to the results if you are of Aboriginal, Latino-American, African or Asian descent, as these groups are known to have a higher percentage of individuals with this disease.

Source: Finnish Diabetes Association and the International Diabetes Federation. Adapted by Diabetes Québec, 2009.