Pre-Diabetes Information for patients

This webpage gives you information about Pre-Diabetes (also known as Non-Diabetic Hyperglycaemia, Impaired Fasting Glucose , Impaired Glucose Tolerance, or Impaired Glucose regulation.

What is Pre-diabetes

Pre-diabetes is when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

It is most commonly diagnosed using a blood test called a HBA1c, which measures your average blood sugar level over a 3 month period.

Why Does Pre-diabetes Matter?

Pre-diabetes does not cause any symptoms, and does not require any treatment. However, it can mean that you are at increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes in the future. Type 2 Diabetes can cause a huge range of health problems, such as heart disease and stroke.

By knowing you have pre-diabetes, you can;

• Take the opportunity make some changes to your lifestyle to try to prevent developing Type 2 Diabetes in the future
• Monitor your blood sugar yearly so if you become a Type 2 Diabetic in the future it can be diagnosed quickly

You can read more about pre-diabetes at Diabetes.org.uk

Diabetes Prevention

We know that changing your life style is easy to say, but can be very hard to do. We offer (and highly recommend) a referral to the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) to all our patients who are newly diagnosed with Pre-diabetes. This is a free, evidence based program designed to educate and support you to make healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes which can significantly reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes (and many other lifestyle associated conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease).

You can choose to do the NDPP online or in person.

If you have recently been diagnosed with Pre-diabetes, and would like to be referred to this service, please respond to the text message you may have been sent, or speak to our reception team.

Find out more about theNational Diabetes Prevention Program