Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

  • 1 February 2023 to 31 January 2025
  • Project No: 595
  • Funding round: FR4

Diabetes is a common illness that is managed mainly by doctors in general practice. There are several kinds of diabetes, and getting the right diagnosis from the start is vital to ensure people get the most effective treatment;

- People with Type 1 diabetes rapidly lose their own insulin (the hormone needed to control their blood sugar levels) so need treatment with insulin injections

- People with Type 2 diabetes may have some of their own insulin but it does not work so well, so tend to be treated by diet/lifestyle changes or tablets that aim to make the insulin they have more effective.

- People with genetic forms of diabetes (called MODY) are best treated according to the specific genetic cause: one type can be treated with a particular tablet, the other is mild and needs no treatment at all.

Getting the correct diagnosis from the beginning is not always easy, and it is estimated that for Type 1 and Type 2, about 7-15% of patients may initially be given the wrong diagnosis. For individuals with MODY, the misdiagnosis rates are even worse, with 77% of people with MODY being told they have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. To improve this, we have developed and tested two online calculators which can be used to help classify diabetes:

1) A Type1/Type 2 calculator which can determine how likely someone is to have Type 1 rather than Type 2 diabetes (https://www.diabetesgenes.org/t1dt2d-prediction-model/).

2) A MODY calculator which can help determine how likely someone is to have MODY (https://www.diabetesgenes.org/exeter-diabetes-app/)

We now want to embed these calculators in GP practices, to explore how they can be used to help GPs with diabetes classification, as this is where initial diagnoses are often made. To do this we will need to:

1) Work out the best way to use the information collected by GPs to make sure it is suitable for use in these calculators.

2) Add the calculators into GP computers so that they automatically link to patient records and test how this works in 20 GP practices by looking at how many patients may have been misclassified and how many need follow up for further testing/specialist referral.

3) Interview doctors, patients, and other GP practice staff and explore how they feel about the potential use of these calculators in general practice.

Combined, all this work will help us understand how these calculators could be used by GPs. It will also provide us with the information need to design a much larger study to fully assess their impact on diagnosis and management of diabetes in general practice.

Amount Awarded: £365,114

Projects by themes

We have grouped projects under the five SPCR themes in this document

Evidence synthesis working group

The collaboration will be conducting 18 high impact systematic reviews, under four workstreams.