A Diabetesforeningen analysis published on World Diabetes Day finds that 42.7 percent of adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Denmark already have heart, blood vessel or kidney disease.
The analysis was published on Saturday, November 14, World Diabetes Day. It covers around 21,000 adults who were diagnosed with diabetes between the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, Kristeligt Dagblad reports, carrying the Ritzau wire.
Of those newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, 42.7 percent already had cardiovascular disease, kidney disease or both. That corresponds to roughly 9,000 people. Claus Richter, chief executive of Diabetesforeningen, calls the figure worryingly high.
Per the same report, Richter says type 2 diabetes is serious in itself, and that complications increase the burden on the individual. He adds that it costs quality of life and can become expensive for society. Around 100,000 people in Denmark are estimated to have type 2 diabetes without knowing it, and about 500,000 are thought to have prediabetes.
Diabetesforeningen wants a mailed test for people aged 50 to 70
The association proposes that everyone between 50 and 70 be sent a home test. People who have had their long-term blood sugar measured by a doctor within the past two years would be excluded. The kit could be mailed together with the existing home test for bowel cancer, which is offered to all residents aged 50 to 74 every two years.
Diabetesforeningen’s own calculations put the cost of a national rollout at 7 to 13 million kroner a year. The association expects a socioeconomic return of 1.28 kroner for every krone invested, through lower treatment costs and less lost earnings. On its Diabetes Analyse page, the association notes the share with heart or kidney disease at diagnosis has not moved in 10 years, and varies from 36 to 47 percent across health councils.
The proposal builds on a pilot study called Spotted. According to Diabetesforeningen, test kits went to 8,000 people aged 50 to 75 without a recent blood sugar measurement, and 1.7 percent had undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Sundhedspolitisk Tidsskrift reports the study was published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care with Steno Diabetes Center and the University of Copenhagen, and that the researchers suggested testing at ages 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70.
Screening also has a downside, says Karsten Vrangbæk, professor of health services research at the University of Copenhagen. As stated in Kristeligt Dagblad, he says screenings are not always accurate, and false positives can create unnecessary worry that should be counted as a cost. He adds that the people who need screening least are often the ones who accept the offer.
What this means for internationals using the Danish health system
Everyone registered with a CPR number and a yellow health card is assigned a general practitioner, called egen læge in Danish. The GP is the route to blood tests, including the long-term blood sugar measurement named in the proposal, and to referrals for heart or kidney assessment. For group 1 patients, GP consultations and publicly ordered tests are covered by healthcare in Denmark without a fee at the point of care.
The bowel cancer home test that Diabetesforeningen points to as a delivery model is already offered to all residents aged 50 to 74 every two years, per Kristeligt Dagblad, and does not depend on nationality. The diabetes home test, by contrast, is at this stage a proposal from an interest organization, and the reporting names no political decision or start date. Mithelse reports that Sundhedsstyrelsen, the Danish Health Authority, does not consider the proposed target group sufficiently narrowed, and that report carries no date.
