A Quantitative Method for Mass Screening of NIDDM

Base on a case-control study on the risk fact ors of NIDDM,the risk factors of the diseasewas quantified and a mathematical model for the mass screening of the disease was developed according to some principles and methods of fuzzy mathematics. A general population sample of 8734 subjects age 20一74 years were tested and actual effectiveness of the method was evaluated. The results showed that the prevalence risk of NIDDM in the population was elevated as the increase of attributable degree(AD) of the method. When the identifying threshold value was set up to 0.3, the sensitivities for identifying diagnosed and undiagnosed NIDDM were 71.26% and 60.98%, respectively,and the specificity was 72. 07%. The significant benefits of this quantitative method were simple, economical and helpful to obtain a satisfackory response rate.The method could be used in health education and identifying people (community) at high risk for undiagnosed diabetes. It was prediced that this quantitative method would serve as an effective and useful tool for mass screening of NIDDM.