Diabetes and prediabetes risk
Leicester diabetes risk score
A seven-question score from the UK, built in a multi-ethnic group with many South Asian adults, to spot people who may have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes without knowing it. You get your score, whether it reaches the cut-off of 16, and the points behind it.
Your answers
Based on the Leicester risk score, in our own words. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
Measure around your middle, just above the hip bones, after breathing out.
What you will see
Your Leicester risk score, whether it reaches the cut-off of 16, and the points behind it.
Educational only, not medical advice. A risk score, not a diagnosis.
Source
Gray LJ et al., Diabetic Medicine 2010 (development, score range and the cut-off of 16). Points as reprinted by the developers in Table 2 of Liu X et al., Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome 2024 (open access, CC BY 4.0).
Validated in
Built in 6,186 adults aged 40 to 75 from a UK screening study in Leicester (73% White European, 22% South Asian), all given an oral glucose tolerance test, and checked in 3,171 adults aged 40 to 75 from a separate UK screening study. A later study in 202,529 UK Biobank adults aged 40 to 69 tested it against diabetes over 10 years.
Limits
The score looks for prediabetes (impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance) or type 2 diabetes you may already have; it does not diagnose. It was built in the UK, with White European and South Asian adults making up most of the group, so it may fit other groups and countries less well. All backgrounds other than White carry the same points. The original score has an age band for 70 and over that the open source we use does not print, so this calculator stops at 69. People already diagnosed with diabetes should not use it.
Leicester score, FINDRISC, CANRISK or the US test?
All four ask about age, weight and family history, but they were built in different places. The Leicester score was made in the UK for a multi-ethnic group and counts any background other than White European, which in the study was mostly South Asian (Gray 2010). The FINDRISC calculator comes from Finland and predicts diabetes over 10 years (Lindström 2003). The CANRISK calculator adapted the FINDRISC questions for Canada's mixed population (Robinson 2011), and the US type 2 diabetes risk test was built in US survey data (Bang 2009). Pick the one built closest to where you live and who you are.
The points
| Factor | Answer | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 40 to 49 / 50 to 59 / 60 to 69 | 0 / 5 / 9 |
| Sex | Female / Male | 0 / 1 |
| Ethnic background | White / any other | 0 / 6 |
| Parent, brother, sister or child with diabetes | No / Yes | 0 / 5 |
| Waist | Under 90 cm / 90 to 99 / 100 to 109 / 110 or more | 0 / 4 / 6 / 9 |
| BMI | Under 25 / 25 to 29 / 30 to 34 / 35 or more | 0 / 3 / 5 / 8 |
| High blood pressure or blood pressure medicine | No / Yes | 0 / 5 |
Points from Table 2 of Liu et al., who reprint the developers' scoring (Liu 2024). The developers turned each factor's weight in their model into whole points; the full score runs from 0 to 47 (Gray 2010), and from 0 to 43 for ages 40 to 69 (Liu 2024). We count a BMI of 29.9 as the 25 to 29 band and a waist of 99.5 cm as the 90 to 99 band. One inch is 2.54 cm.
Example: a 55-year-old White woman whose mother has diabetes, with a waist of 95 cm and a BMI of 27, scores 5 (age) + 5 (family) + 4 (waist) + 3 (BMI) = 17, which is at or above the cut-off.
What the score means
The developers set a cut-off of 16. In the separate UK check study, a score of 16 or more picked up 81% of people who had prediabetes or type 2 diabetes on a glucose tolerance test, and 45% of people without either scored under 16 (Gray 2010). So the score catches most cases but also flags many people whose blood sugar is normal, which is the point of a first-step screen. The score told people with and without the conditions apart with an area under the curve of 72% (Gray 2010).
In UK Biobank, the same score also ranked who went on to get type 2 diabetes over 10 years well (C index 0.796), and the cut-off of 16 picked up 82% of those who did (Liu 2024).
What to do with your result
A score of 16 or more is a reason to ask your doctor about an A1C or fasting glucose test. In the US, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in adults aged 35 to 70 who have overweight or obesity (USPSTF 2021), whatever any risk score says.
See also the FINDRISC calculator, the CANRISK calculator, the AUSDRISK calculator, the Indian Diabetes Risk Score, the Chinese Diabetes Risk Score, the type 2 diabetes risk test, when to get tested for diabetes, prediabetes ranges and next steps, the BMI calculator and the waist circumference check.
Sources
- Gray LJ, Taub NA, Khunti K, Gardiner E, Hiles S, Webb DR, Srinivasan BT, Davies MJ. The Leicester Risk Assessment score for detecting undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose regulation for use in a multiethnic UK setting. Diabet Med. 2010;27(8):887-895. PMID 20653746. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20653746/
- Liu X, Littlejohns TJ, Bešević J, Bragg F, Clifton L, Collister JA, Trichia E, Gray LJ, Khunti K, Hunter DJ. Incorporating polygenic risk into the Leicester Risk Assessment score for 10-year risk prediction of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2024;18:102996. doi:10.1016/j.dsx.2024.102996. hdl.handle.net/2381/25551954
- US Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes: Recommendation Statement. JAMA. 2021;326(8):736-743. www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/screening-for-prediabetes-and-type-2-diabetes
- Lindström J, Tuomilehto J. The diabetes risk score: a practical tool to predict type 2 diabetes risk. Diabetes Care. 2003;26(3):725-731. PMID 12610029. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12610029/
- Robinson CA, Agarwal G, Nerenberg K. Validating the CANRISK prognostic model for assessing diabetes risk in Canada's multi-ethnic population. Chronic Dis Inj Can. 2011;32(1):19-31. PMID 22153173. www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/health-promotion-chronic-disease-prevention-canada-research-policy-practice/vol-32-no-1-2011/validating-canrisk-prognostic-model-assessing-diabetes-risk-canadas-multi-ethnic-population.html
- Bang H, Edwards AM, Bomback AS, et al. Development and validation of a patient self-assessment score for diabetes risk. Ann Intern Med. 2009;151(11):775-783. doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-151-11-200912010-00005
Written and maintained by the uncovermyrisk.com editorial team. We do not have a medical reviewer; every claim links to its primary source above. Last reviewed: 2026-11-01. Spotted an error? See About.