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FINDRISC diabetes risk score
FINDRISC
FINDRISC is a short, eight-question tool developed by Finnish researchers to estimate a person's chance of developing type 2 diabetes over the next ten years, without an immediate blood test. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) uses it for its World Diabetes Day public-awareness campaign, encouraging people with a higher result to see a primary care doctor for proper testing. This page explains the idea behind the questionnaire and its general result categories, but does not yet include an interactive calculator with the exact points for each answer (see Limits below).
According to the assessment page that the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) publishes as part of its World Diabetes Day campaign, the FINDRISC questionnaire covers eight areas: age (under 45 / 45–54 / 55–64 / over 64 years), body mass index (under 25 / 25–30 / over 30), waist circumference (measured below the ribs at about the navel, and its thresholds differ by sex: for men under 94 cm, 94–102 cm or over 102 cm, and for women under 80 cm, 80–88 cm or over 88 cm), doing physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day (yes/no), eating vegetables and fruit daily (yes/no), regularly using blood pressure medicine at any time (yes/no), having previously been found to have high blood sugar — for example during a health check, illness or pregnancy — (yes/no), and having a family history of diabetes (none / a second-degree relative such as a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin / a first-degree relative such as a father, mother, sibling or child). The final result is classified, according to the same page, into five risk categories with an approximate probability of developing diabetes within ten years: low (about 1 in 100), slightly elevated (about 1 in 25), moderate (about 1 in 6), high (about 1 in 3), and very high (about 1 in 2).
Several studies have examined FINDRISC's performance in different primary care settings; for example, a study published in BMC Medicine (Costa and colleagues, 2013) on a sample from Catalonia (Spain) used the eight-question version of the questionnaire to screen for diabetes risk in primary care and compared its performance with glycated haemoglobin HbA1c testing. However, we did not find a page that publishes the exact scoring table for each answer with explicit text permitting its republication for general health use: the International Diabetes Federation (IDF/Test2Prevent) page that hosts the full questionnaire carries an "All Rights Reserved" notice, and the pages of the Finnish Diabetes Association (diabetes.fi) did not show any text of the questionnaire at all. Therefore only the questionnaire's areas and its general result categories are described here, without an interactive calculator with additive scores.
What is it?
The FINDRISC questionnaire measures eight factors: age, body mass index, waist circumference, daily physical activity, eating vegetables and fruit, using blood pressure medicine, a previous history of high blood sugar, and a family history of diabetes, then classifies the respondent into one of five risk categories.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) page describes the tool as based on the "Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) developed and designed by Associate Professor Jaana Lindström and Professor Jaakko Tuomilehto of the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland".
Why it matters
The purpose of the questionnaire is to screen people not yet diagnosed in order to direct them to see a primary care doctor and have the appropriate laboratory tests, not to replace those tests.
A version of the questionnaire has been used in primary care research to evaluate its accuracy against laboratory tests such as glycated haemoglobin HbA1c, as in the study by Costa and colleagues in Catalonia.
How to use it
The eight questions above are answered, then an overall score is calculated that places the respondent in one of the five categories with an approximate probability of developing diabetes within ten years, as the IDF page describes.
To take the questionnaire in its full interactive form with its exact scores, see the official page published by the International Diabetes Federation, or ask the primary care doctor about an equivalent screening tool.
Limits of this information
This page does not include an interactive calculator with the exact score for each answer: the International Diabetes Federation (IDF/Test2Prevent) page that publishes the full questionnaire carries an "All Rights Reserved" notice (Copyright © Test2Prevent ... All Rights Reserved) with no text permitting its republication for general health use, and during this research no other source was found (the World Health Organization, the Finnish Diabetes Association diabetes.fi, or a government health body) that publishes the same scoring table with explicit permission to republish. This page is therefore limited to the general description without computable scores, until a source with a clear licence becomes available.
This questionnaire is a preliminary screening tool, not a diagnosis; and its result — even if its interactive calculator becomes available later — does not replace laboratory tests such as fasting blood glucose or glycated haemoglobin HbA1c requested by the doctor.
The appropriate treatment or preventive programme for any result is decided by the doctor, and this page does not suggest any change, starting or stopping of any medicine.
FINDRISC is not the only questionnaire of its kind: the NIDDK mentions, on its page about preventing type 2 diabetes, a risk test of its own ("Diabetes Risk Test") alongside other similar assessment tools, all of which are preliminary screening tests that do not replace the blood glucose or glycated haemoglobin test requested by the doctor.
Common questions
Does FINDRISC diagnose diabetes?
No; it is a general screening questionnaire that estimates the likelihood of developing it over the next ten years as the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) page describes, and actual diagnosis needs a blood glucose or glycated haemoglobin test from the doctor.2
Who developed this questionnaire?
It was developed by two Finnish researchers (Jaana Lindström and Jaakko Tuomilehto) at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, as the International Diabetes Federation page states.2
Where can I find the full version with its scores so I can actually take the questionnaire?
Through the official page that the International Diabetes Federation publishes as part of its World Diabetes Day campaign; the questionnaire's full scores are not included here because no clear permission to republish them was available when this page was prepared.1
Questions for your doctor
- What are the eight factors that the FINDRISC questionnaire assesses?
- What are the five categories of the questionnaire's result and what does each roughly mean?
- Do I need a blood glucose test based on my current risk factors?
References
- 1International Diabetes Federation (IDF) / Test2Prevent. Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment. worlddiabetesday.org/type-2-diabetes-risk-assessment/Systematic reviews · Accessed 2026-10-08
- 2International Diabetes Federation (IDF) / World Diabetes Day. Know your risk of type 2 diabetes. worlddiabetesday.org/t2d-risk-test/Systematic reviews · Accessed 2026-10-08
- 3BMC Medicine (Costa et al., 2013). Shifting from glucose diagnosis to the new HbA1c diagnosis reduces the capability of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) to screen for glucose abnormalities within a real-life primary healthcare preventive strategy. bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7015-11-45Educational & historical references · Accessed 2026-10-08
- 4NIDDK / NIH. Preventing Type 2 Diabetes. www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/preventing-type-2-diabetesHealth agencies & guidelines · Accessed 2026-10-03
Review status: Edited content · Last updated:
Change log
- — Page created.
Educational content only — no diagnosis, and no substitute for a clinician.