Diabetes Screening

Share | The Greeks, Asclepions of Hippocrates's time, screened for diabetes by taste. An alternative method was accomplished by poring the patient's urine on the ground and observing whether or not the urine attracted ants. The taste-test was said to have greater sensitivity while the ante-test offered greater specificity. It might be interesting to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the ante-test and the taste-test with today's fasting blood sugar and one hour glucose challenge test.