Simulations found within-subject measurement variation in glycaemic measures may cause overdiagnosis of prediabetes and diabetes.

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine the impact of test measurement variation on misclassification of prediabetes and diabetes in the US adult population.

Data from adults with no prior diagnosis of diabetes in the 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to simulate populations of US adults eligible for screening. Estimates of measurement variation were applied to each simulated individual's true values to generate observed values for up to 5 repeated screens.