Performance of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) in the Identification of Dysglycemia in an Urban Population in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a real public health problem worldwide and is growing in developing countries. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to evaluate the performance of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) questionnaire to identify type 2 diabetics in the urban population of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study among volunteers aged 18 years and older recruited systematically from November 11 to 16, 2019, in the city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, FINDRISC score was used. Analysis of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to study the diagnostic performance of FINDRISC for the identification of type 2 diabetics. The optimal threshold was determined by the sum of the highest sensitivity and specificity. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the association of each variable used in the calculation of the FINDRISC score. Results: A total of 1276 individuals were included in the analyses, of which 667 (52.27%) were women. The average age was 34.16 years (SD: ±12.42). The prevalence of T2DM was 10.74%. The mean FINDRISC score was 5.85 (SD: ±4.31). The majority (58.54%) of individuals had a low risk of diabetes according to the FINDRISC score 0 - 7, while 3.61% had a score ≥ 15. The FINDRISC score showed good performance (AUC = 0.70) in identifying undiagnosed type 2 diabetics. However, the variables in the score that best predicted the likelihood of being diabetic were age (p < 0.001), daily physical activity (p = 0.004), use of antihypertensive medication (p = 0.007) and waist circumference (p < 0.001). The optimal cut-off score ≥ 7 was the best predictor of the likelihood of having T2DM. Conclusion: The Finnish Risk Score (FINDRISC) is a good predictor of the risk of dysglycemia in Burkina Faso. It is a score to be promoted in daily clinical practice because it is easy to use, affordable and non-invasive. Further studies are needed to make modifications to the FINDRISC questionnaire in case it is applied to other ethnic groups.