deCODE T2™

Detects risk of type 2 diabetes independent of family history and obesity. Identifies prediabetics at high near-term risk of conversion to T2D. Predicts responsiveness to major classes of diabetes drugs.

Screening and prevention

How deCODE T2™ can help.

Identifies those at increased risk of T2D.

High-risk individuals may benefit most from aggressive lifestyle modification efforts and/or drug treatment.

Provides more complete risk information.

The genetic risk detected by the deCODE T2™ test is largely independent of any other risk factors that a patient may have. The risk conferred by these other factors can simply be multiplied by the test results to yield a comprehensive risk assessment.

Identifies prediabetics who are at high risk of developing full-blown T2D.

With deCODE T2™ physicians can identify those prediabetic patients who are at a 50-70% likelihood of becoming diabetic within the next 3 to 4 years compared to the baseline risk of 30% in overweight or obese prediabetics.

Enables personalized drug treatment and prevention.

Large-scale, published studies have shown that patients who have the high-risk TCF7L2 genotype detected by the test are likely to respond better to metformin than sulfonylureas. The 2010 ADA recommendations on management of prediabetics state: “In addition to lifestyle counseling, metformin may be considered in those who are at very high risk (combined IFG and IGT plus other risk factors) and who are obese and under 60 years of age.”

deCODE T2™ reports an individual’s risk of T2D as a multiple of the population average, that is, as relative risk (RR) compared to the population at large.

The test’s risk range and risk distribution according to continental ancestry is as follows:

	Number of markers	Test risk range	RR > 0.05-12	RR > 1.5	RR > 2
European decent	21	0.05-12	42%	10%	3%
East Asian decent	9	0.17-16.2	40%	14%	5%
African decent	2	0.6-2.03	40%	5%	2.6%

This content was last reviewed on February 04, 2011.