History of diabetes screening: from tasting urine to continuous glucose monitoring

Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic disease caused by inadequate production of insulin by the pancreas or ineffective use of produced insulin by the body. In 2024, there were  589 million people have diabetes in the world, and 107 million people in the SEA Region; by 2050, this will rise to 185 million. In Nepal, 7.7% adults were found to have diabetes. There is a sharp increase in diabetic adults. The ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, a medical text, mentions a condition similar to diabetes around 1550 BC. This described the condition as “Too great emptying of the urine”. After that, around 600 BC-500BC (i.e., 5^th /6^th Century), an Ancient Indian physician noticed a similar condition and called as “Madhumeha”. 10th-11th century, Avicenna, a Persian physician, described diabetes in “The Canon of Medicine” as abnormal appetite, decline in sexual function, sweet urine, and diabetic gangrene. ‘Dextrometer’ was developed for monitoring blood glucose at home. The haemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) was developed in the late 1960s and It was first used for monitoring glycaemic control in the 1970s and is now a standard tool for both diagnosing diabetes and monitoring long-term control. (CGM) The system was developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s.