New test could detect diabetes risk earlier
Wednesday 5th August 2026 on 21:45 in
Austria
Researchers at the Medical University of Graz are testing a new laboratory marker that could help identify people at increased risk of diabetes earlier, ORF reported. The marker is 2-hydroxybutyrate, also known as 2-HB.
Diabetes often develops gradually, and many people do not notice it for years. In some cases, the diagnosis is made only after one or more related complications have developed, including cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, nerve damage and loss of vision.
Existing screening methods fail to detect up to 40 percent of people with a disorder of glucose metabolism. Abnormalities often become visible only after a targeted glucose challenge known as an oral glucose tolerance test.
The new test is intended to improve risk assessment even in people whose blood results appear normal. Researchers assessed the significance of 2-HB using data from more than 700 participants in a long-term study in Graz. Their findings were recently published in the journal Diabetes Care.
Levels of 2-HB rose as glucose metabolism became more impaired. The marker distinguished between people with normal glucose metabolism, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. It was also informative in people whose fasting blood glucose and long-term blood glucose levels were still within the normal range, said Christoph Strohhofer, the study’s lead author.
The findings indicate that 2-HB could complement established testing methods by helping identify previously undetected metabolic disorders and sparing people at very low risk from unnecessary follow-up examinations, the researchers said.
Until now, the marker could be measured only with complex specialist procedures. The new test can be used with established clinical laboratory equipment, making it potentially suitable for routine medical practice. Thomas Pieber, head of the Clinical Division of Endocrinology and Diabetology in Graz, said the key advance was not only the marker itself but also the availability of a method suitable for clinical use.