<em>A new home test can detect type 2 diabetes or prediabetes with high accuracy. The test has been developed using artificial intelligence and large amounts of health data – and surprisingly, one of the steps involves measuring the length of your thigh.</em><br /> <br /> How long is your thigh? The answer might help reveal whether you have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. The length of your thigh is one of the seven pieces of information you can enter in the new online test, MEDWACS. The test can effectively detect people with prediabetes or undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and was developed by two DTU researchers in collaboration with an Italian doctor and researcher.<br /> <br /> “Type 2 diabetes is easy to diagnose with a blood test, but if you don’t suspect you have it, you won’t go to the doctor to have one done. That’s why an online test at home can encourage people to see a doctor,” says postdoc Daniel Yoo, DTU Sustain, who has been the driving force behind the new online test. <p>
MEDWACS was developed in collaboration between Daniel Yoo and DTU colleague Professor Olivier Jolliet, as well as the Italian doctor Umberto Maggiore, who is specialized in kidney diseases, which are frequent complications of diabetes. Their work has been published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112266" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112266">Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.</a></p> <p>MEDWACS was developed using artificial intelligence and large amounts of US health data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, collected over 30 years for both sexes aged 18 and up.</p> <p>The researchers have carried out two external validations of the test tool, testing it on data from two populations in the US and South Korea, where the number of people with and without the condition is known. The validations show that MEDWACS is highly effective at detecting people with prediabetes or undiagnosed type 2 diabetes, performing on par with or exceeding other recognized testing methods.<br /> <br /> <strong>Measure your thigh</strong><br /> In MEDWACS – as in similar tests – you must answer questions such as age, gender, and BMI. These questions are based on seven parameters that the research team selected from nearly 3,700 possible options.</p> <p>All seven parameters can be measured at home using a tape measure, bathroom scales, and a standard blood pressure monitor.</p> <p>The most surprising parameter is the length of your thigh, which can help reveal your risk of type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. A parameter that initially surprised the research team as well. But Umberto Maggiore, the medical expert, can explain why this curious measurement is interesting in the context of diabetes:</p> <p>“The length of the femur bears witness to nutrition in early childhood. Poor nutrition in the first years of life slightly inhibits bone growth and is closely linked to an increased risk of diabetes decades later. Furthermore, the body’s largest muscle group is also located in the thighs, and these muscles are responsible for removing sugar from the blood. Overall, shorter legs mean that a person has less muscle mass to absorb that sugar, which increases the risk of diabetes.”</p> <p><strong>About MEDWACS</strong></p> <ul> <li>The MEDWACS test can assess your risk of having type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.</li> <li>The test is designed for adults (aged 18 and over) who have not previously been diagnosed with diabetes.</li> <li>The test has been validated using US and South Korean health data and performs better than similar tests.</li> <li>You can access the test online, where you will be asked to provide your age, gender, BMI, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, upper arm circumference and thigh length.</li> <li>MEDWACS was developed by postdoc Daniel Yoo and Professor Olivier Jolliet, both from Section for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment at DTU Sustain, in collaboration with the Italian doctor and researcher Umberto Maggiore, University of Parma.</li> <li>The research has been published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.</li> <li>The Novo Nordisk Foundation has funded the project.</li> <li>MEDWACS has paved the way for new applications, and the research team has just put the finishing touches on a testing tool that can identify patients at high risk of kidney disease.</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.dtu.dk/medwacs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="www.dtu.dk/medwacs">Try the test.</a></p> <p></p> <strong>About type 2 diabetes and prediabetes</strong> <p>Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. Pre-diabetes is also referred to as a precursor to type 2 diabetes. There are virtually no symptoms of pre-diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, symptoms may include:</p> <ul> <li>Lack of energy – tiredness, nausea, poorer general health</li> <li>Thirst</li> <li>Frequent urination</li> <li>Unexplained weight loss</li> <li>Vision problems</li> <li>Itching around the genitals</li> <li>Infections of the skin and mucous membranes</li> </ul>