New home urine test helps diabetics with insulin monitoring

A new easy-to-use home urine test has been developed by scientists in the UK to help people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes check to see if they are producing their own insulin . It is hoped that the home test, which is sent in by post, will replace multiple blood tests that have to be carried out in hospital.
The test monitors if patients are still able to make their own insulin even if they are using insulin injections, and can differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as for rare genetic forms of diabetes.
The study, involving more than 300 patients and carried out at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, and published in the diabetes journals, Diabetic Medicine and Diabetes Care, hopes to help more correct diagnoses of the metabolic condition and will be especially useful for children who find taking blood tests problematic.
Rachel Besser, study leader, said “The urine test offers a practical alternative to blood testing. As the urine test can be done in the patients own home we hope that it will be taken up more readily, and more patients can be correctly diagnosed and be offered the correct treatment.”