Prediabetes or a borderline HbA1c result - with Sam Finnikin and Seamus O’Mahony

A borderline hba1c result will initiate a conversation with a patient - but how useful is that "prediabetes" check-in, and can GPs ever adequately describe what the elevated risk of having a risk factor actually means for a patients health? Our guests in this episode are Sam Finnikin, an academic GP from the University of Birmingham, who gives some helpful tips on explaining that risk, and reminds Tom that fear is not a good motivator of behaviour change. Seamus O'Mahony is a retired gastroenterologist, and author. He explains the process which births a new diagnosis, and why he feels that creeping disease definitions are undermining the medical profession. Further reading A borderline HbA1c result https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1361 The epidemic of pre-diabetes: the medicine and the politics https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4485 Time to question the NHS diabetes prevention programme

https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4717