Evidence of insulin resistance and changes in blood sugar linked to type 2 diabetes can be measured more than a decade before the disease occurs, new research confirms. The findings suggest that diabetes prevention efforts that focus on people with prediabetes may come too late to make a big difference.

The findings were presented today at the 69th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in New Orleans, and they also appear in the latest online issue of the journal The Lancet. Researchers followed more than 6,500 British civil servants without diabetes for up to 13 years, during which time they repeatedly measured insulin sensitivity and fasting and non-fasting glucose levels.

During an average follow-up of 10 years, 505 of the study participants developed type 2 diabetes. The study showed a steady upward trajectory in metabolic changes in participants who did not develop diabetes. In contrast, these changes tended to occur at different periods in those who did go on to have diabetes, and these changes were often abrupt. (more…)