[The 'Diabetes mellitus type 2' guideline (first revision) of the Dutch College of General Practitioners: response from family practice].

The first revision of the guidelines of the Dutch College of General Practitioners on diabetes mellitus type 2 has been prepared by experts from primary and secondary care. This might be a big improvement, since the guidelines will be welcomed by general practitioners as well as by specialists. One item that will cause debate is that the threshold to make the diagnosis of diabetes is decreased to 6.1 mmol/l. This will increase the number of diabetes patients and the GP's workload. Another controversy is made by the advice to screen for unknown diabetics in risk groups using case-finding. There are many questions about the feasibility of this advice while conclusive evidence that it will lead to better prognosis is not yet established.