Introduction
This Diabetes Risk Calculator scores the American Diabetes Association's Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test. You answer 7 short questions about your age, sex, family history, blood pressure, activity and weight. Each answer is worth 0 to 3 points, and a score of 5 or higher means you are at increased risk for having type 2 diabetes.13
Some of the questions are about things you cannot change, like your age and family history. Others, like being physically active and your weight, are things you can work on. The score breakdown shows how many points each answer added.
The test's scoring comes from a study by Bang and colleagues that used U.S. national health survey data. In that data, a score of 5 or more selected 35% of adults for testing and found 79% of those with undiagnosed diabetes.14
Type 2 diabetes often starts quietly, years before any symptoms show up.4 Knowing your risk early gives you time to act. This tool is a screening guide, not a diagnosis. If your score is 5 or higher, talk to a doctor and ask for a blood sugar or A1C test.
How to use our Diabetes Risk Calculator
Answer the 7 questions. The calculator adds up your points, shows your total score and whether it reaches 5, and lists the points each answer added.
1. Age: Pick your age group: less than 40, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, or 60 or older. The age groups score 0, 1, 2 and 3 points.13
2. Man or woman: Choose Man or Woman. A man scores 1 point.13
3. Gestational diabetes: If you are a woman, choose "Yes" if you have ever been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which is diabetes first found during a pregnancy. Men skip this question.
4. Family history: Choose "Yes" if your mother, father, sister or brother has diabetes.
5. High blood pressure: Choose "Yes" if you have ever been diagnosed with high blood pressure.
6. Physical activity: Choose "Yes" if you are physically active. Answering "No" adds 1 point.13
7. Weight category: Pick your height, then type your weight in pounds or kilograms. The calculator finds your weight category on the test's height and weight chart, which covers heights from 4 ft 10 in to 6 ft 4 in and scores 0 to 3 points.13
The test does not ask about race or ethnicity, but type 2 diabetes is more common in African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Asian Americans are at increased risk at a lower body weight, about 15 pounds lower.13
Calculate: Click this button to see your score and the points for each answer.
Reset: Click this to go back to the example answers.
What Is Type 2 Diabetes Risk?
Type 2 diabetes happens when your body stops using insulin well. Insulin is the hormone that moves sugar from your blood into your cells. When it stops working right, sugar builds up in your blood. Over years, high blood sugar can hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and feet.
Type 2 diabetes builds up slowly. Many people have it for years before they know.4 That is why checking your risk early matters. More than 2 in 5 American adults have prediabetes, and it often goes undetected.2
Risk Factors You Cannot Change
Some things raise your risk no matter what you do. These are your non-modifiable risk factors:
- Age. Risk climbs from age 45.1 Cells respond to insulin less well as you get older.
- Family history. If a parent, brother, sister, or child has type 2 diabetes, your risk goes up a lot.10
- Race and ethnicity. Hispanic, Black, Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander adults get type 2 diabetes more often.1
- Sex. Men tend to build harmful belly fat at a lower weight than women.
- Gestational diabetes. High blood sugar during pregnancy raises the chance of type 2 diabetes later.1
You cannot change these. But knowing them tells you how hard you need to work on the parts you can change.
Risk Factors You Can Change
These modifiable factors are the ones you can act on:
- Prediabetes. Blood sugar that is high, but not high enough to be diabetes. Without action, many people with prediabetes get type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years.11 With action, many go back to normal.
- Waist size. Fat around your belly is the kind that blocks insulin most. Risk starts rising past 80 cm for women and 94 cm for men, and rises further past 88 cm and 102 cm.7 That is about 31.5 and 35 inches for women, and 37 and 40 inches for men.
- Activity. Moving your muscles pulls sugar out of your blood without needing much insulin. 150 minutes a week of brisk walking is the common goal.2
- Food. Fruit and vegetables add fiber, which slows how fast sugar hits your blood.
- Blood pressure. High blood pressure and insulin problems often show up together.
- Smoking. Smokers are 30 to 40% more likely to get type 2 diabetes than non-smokers.3
Why Your Score Matters
A risk score is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. It shows how many warning signs you have stacked up. A high score is a signal to get a simple blood test from a doctor or clinic, either an A1C test or a fasting glucose test. Only a blood test can tell you if you have prediabetes or diabetes.8
Good News: Risk Can Drop
Type 2 diabetes is often preventable. In the Diabetes Prevention Program, a large U.S. trial, people with prediabetes who aimed to lose 7% of their body weight and exercise 150 minutes a week cut their chance of getting type 2 diabetes by 58%.10 For people 60 and older, the drop was 71%.10 Small steps, done often, work better than big changes you cannot keep.
Warning Signs to Watch For
See a doctor soon if you notice: being thirsty all the time, peeing a lot, feeling very tired, blurry vision, cuts that heal slowly, tingling in your hands or feet, or losing weight without trying.4
This tool gives an estimate for learning purposes. It does not replace advice, testing, or care from a medical professional.