There are two main types of physical exams for people with diabetes: diabetes-related specialty exams and general exams.
First, there are the specialty tests for diabetes, including fasting glucose, 2-hour postprandial glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, islet function, and diabetes-related autoimmune antibodies.
These tests can be used to identify diabetes and to understand how well the patient’s blood glucose is controlled so that the necessary steps can be taken to treat it. Some of these tests should also include tests for complications of diabetes, such as funduscopy, urine microalbumin, and screening for diabetic peripheral neuropathy, which provide information about the history of the disease and whether complications have developed, so that the complications can be treated aggressively while controlling blood glucose.
In addition, another category is the general screening for diabetes, which includes routine blood and urine, liver and kidney function, electrocardiogram, cardiac ultrasound, and body mass index. The blood tests can be used to determine if there are co-infections, and the urine tests mainly look at urine sugar and ketone bodies to see if complications are occurring. The electrocardiogram and cardiac ultrasound are used to assess whether the patient has comorbid cardiovascular disease, and the body mass index is used to understand whether the patient is obese and to what extent, which can guide the selection of glucose-lowering medications.