In 1997, the American Diabetes Associa-tion (ADA) adopted new re commend ations for screening the general population aged 45 years for diabetes every 3 years with an emphasis on those at high risk for undiagnosed diabetes (1). Few studies have examined the extent to which this screening has been adopted. This re po rt describes the results of a telephone su rvey of Montana residents aged 4 5 years to assess the diabetes screening practices in this population. F rom October to December 1998, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services conducted a random household telephone survey of Montana residents aged 45 years living in 18 counties. Respondents indicated whether they ever had been told by a physician that they had diabetes, the number of visits they made to a health care provider during the past year, their family history of diabetes, whether they had ever been told they had high cholesterol and/or high blood pre ssu re, and their height and weight. Respondents were asked the following question to identify whether they had ever been screened for diabetes:“Glucose or sugar is a substance found in your blood. Have you ever had your blood glucose or sugar checked to see if you have diabetes?” When respondents re sponded “yes” to this question, they were asked to identify when screening was completed (“When was the last time your blood glucose or sugar level was measured by a health care professional?”). The re sponse categories for this question included within the past year, within the past 3 years, 3 years ago, do not know/not sure, and refused to answer. Pearson 2 tests were used to assess associations between diabetes screening and risk factors for diabetes. Logistical re g ression analyses were conducted to identify independent variables associated with screening for diabetes during the past year. Odds ratios (95% CIs) were calculated. Of the 1,204 respondents, 92 (7.6%) re po rted that they had diagnosed diabetes.

The remaining 1,112 respondents re po rt ed that they did not have diagnosed diabetes and are included in the following analyses. Of the respondents, 39% re po rted a family histo ry of diabetes, 32% re po rted a BMI 27 kg/m2, 28% re po rted having hypertension, and 28% re po rted having high choleste rol. Excluding age, 34% of re spo ndents had one risk factor for diabetes, and 40% had two or more risk factors. Of the 1,112 respondents without diagnosed diabetes, 39% re po rted that they had been sc reened for diabetes during the past year, 14% re po rted screening from 1 to 3 years ago, and 47% re po rted screening 3 years ago or having never been scre ened. Respondents who re po rted being sc reened for diabetes during the past year we re more likely to be age 65 years and to have a family history of diabetes, two or mo re visits to a health care provider during the past year, hypertension, and high choleste rol levels (Table 1). We found no association between recent screening and sex (40% men vs. 38% women), American Indian ancestry (41% yes vs. 38% no), or BMI (42% 27 kg/m2 vs. 37% 27 kg/m2). Respondents with three or mo re risk factors (eg, aged 45 years, American Indian ancestry, family history of diabetes, hypertension, high choleste rol, or BMI 27 kg/m2) were more likely to be screened for diabetes compared with