Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Nov 12, 2025
Date Accepted: Dec 9, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Effectiveness of Systematic Diabetes Screening: Workplace Disease Prevention Campaigns in the French Civil Service
ABSTRACT
Background:
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains one of the most underdiagnosed chronic conditions worldwide, despite its major contribution to cardiovascular and metabolic morbidity. Workplace-based prevention strategies offer an opportunity to enhance early detection, particularly among employed adults with limited access to regular medical screening. In France, the Union Prévention Santé pour la Fonction publique (UROPS) has implemented a systematic glucose-screening program for civil servants to identify individuals at risk of T2D or prediabetes.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a systematic diabetes screening program as a preventive public health measure, by determining the rate of newly detected diabetes cases and characterizing associated cardiometabolic risk factors within a large population of French public-sector employees.
Methods:
A retrospective observational study was conducted using data from a glucose screening program between January 2022 and February 2025. Participants with postprandial blood glucose >1.40 g/L were included in a follow-up cohort. Sociodemographic, clinical, and biological data were collected. Comparisons were performed using χ² or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and Student’s t-test for continuous variables (R software, v4.3.3; significance p<0.05).
Results:
Among 16,785 screened participants, 981 (5.8%) were eligible for follow-up, and 134 were included in the cohort. Of these, 70 (52.2%) completed follow-up, with 12.9% having confirmed diabetes after medical assessment. Confirmed diabetics were mostly men (77%, p<0.05). Overweight (37.6%) and obesity (25.6%) were frequent, as were sedentary lifestyle (61.6%) and family history of diabetes (63.2%).
Conclusions:
Systematic glucose screening in an occupational or social health context effectively identifies individuals at risk of diabetes or prediabetes. The results support the integration of such programs into preventive health strategies to enhance early detection and reduce long-term complications.
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