Research reported in Diabetes Care highlights that while obese individuals may have a higher risk factors for diabetes, diagnosis is often missed.

5,514 adult participated in the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Particpants were interviewed about sociodemographic and medical data, including whether they had been diagnosed with diabetes, and were examined for height, weight, and fasting plasma glucose.

RESULTS—Of the 9.8% participants who had diabetes, 28.1% were undiagnosed, translating to an estimated 5.2 million people in the U.S. population. Obese adults comprise more than half of the undiagnosed diabetes cases (2.7 million).

CONCLUSIONS—Despite a higher underlying risk of diabetes and widespread clinical recognition of this higher risk, obesity does not increase the likelihood that an individual’s diabetes will be diagnosed.