Diabetes: data introduction

The number of diagnosed cases of diabetes is likely to be an underestimate of the true number of cases. One reason is that many people may have diabetes (particularly type 2 diabetes) without being aware of it. In the UK it is thought that around a quarter to a third of cases of diabetes remain undiagnosed.

Many people have levels of blood glucose that are abnormally raised even though they are not high enough to justify the diagnosis of diabetes. This condition is called impaired glucose tolerance or impaired glucose regulation and it also increases the risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease and other complications of diabetes. There is little information about the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance in Scotland.

Data on diabetes in Scotland are available from specific primary care sources (the PTI scheme and QOF data), from secondary care (hospital discharge data) and from the Scottish Diabetes Survey.