A new clinical screening strategy and prevalence estimation for glucokinase variant-induced diabetes in an adult Chinese population

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of glucokinase variant-induced diabetes (GCK-DM) in a general population and to establish a clinical strategy for identifying GCK-DM from type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Methods: A population-based study of diabetes in a rural region of Beijing, China, was conducted using two-stage stratified random cluster sampling. The glucokinase exons were sequenced in patients with diabetes.

Results: A total of 3345 subjects, including 545 patients with diabetes, participated in this study. Seven patients with GCK-DM were identified. The estimated prevalence rates of GCK-DM were 0.21% and 1.3% in the whole population and the diabetic patients, respectively. In the newly diagnosed diabetic patients (New-DM), a triglyceride cutoff ≤1.43 mmol/L (126.55 mg/dl) could discriminate GCK-DM from T2DM with 100% sensitivity and 68.4% specificity. Its effectiveness was confirmed in an additional 134 early-onset young patients with T2DM and mild hyperglycemia. A clinical criterion based on triglyceride and mild hyperglycemia could differentiate GCK-DM from T2DM in New-DM and was shown to be effective in identifying GCK-DM from 559 early-onset young patients with T2DM in the hospital.

Conclusions: The prevalence of GCK-DM is approximately 1.3% in the Chinese population with diabetes, and the new clinical screening strategy is helpful for identifying GCK-DM.