Table 2.

Screening for type 1 diabetes set against WHO criteria for screening [19]

Criterion	Satisfied
The condition sought should be an important health problem	Yes Type 1 diabetes is an important health problem. Whilst early screening does not currently allow us to institute preventative therapy, it may prevent comorbidity associated with late presentation
There should be an accepted treatment for patients with recognised disease	Yes People at risk will be provided with education until they are formally diagnosed with diabetes, at which time they will be initiated on insulin. Early education and initiation of insulin are likely to be acceptable and effective
Facilities for diagnosis and treatment should be available	Yes Most healthcare facilities have access to phlebotomy and oral glucose challenge facilities. Samples can be sent to reference centres nationally for analysis
There should be a recognisable latent or early symptomatic stage	Yes Latent and early symptomatic phase can be detected through autoantibody and glucose challenge
There should be a suitable test or examination	Yes Peripheral blood tests for antibodies and oral glucose challenge
The test should be acceptable to the population	Not known The psychological consequences of awareness of high risk of a chronic disease for which there is no cure is not known
The natural history of the condition, including development from latent to declared disease, should be adequately understood.	Not known Natural history remains to be fully elucidated, different rates of progression remain to be understood. Age, ethnicity and environment appear to influence natural history and these effects remain to be elucidated
There should be an agreed policy on whom to treat as patients	Yes People fulfilling standard WHO criteria for diabetes will be treated as diabetic
The cost of case-finding should be economically balanced in relation to possible expenditure on medical care as a whole	Not known
Case-finding should be a continuing process and not a ‘once and for all’ project	Yes A long-term programme can be implemented nationally