In western industrialised societies, asymptomatic individuals are increasingly labelled as at-risk of future illness and targeted for public health interventions. These at-risk people are identified through health checks, population studies and national screening programs. The main purpose of communicating such risk to individuals is to motivate them to make lifestyle changes. Many of these risk-labels are controversial, both medically and ethically. Based on the relational theory of risk and a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews, we explore how individuals defined as at-risk perceive and conceptualise information about risk of developing diabetes. The interviews were conducted in 2019 with 26 participants from an ongoing population study in Norway. After participating within the screening, participants were informed that they had elevated or intermediate glycated haemoglobin values, and therefore at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Our data reveal an ambiguous situation: while receiving information about being at-risk may function as a vulnerability-reminder that might motivate lifestyle changes, it can also create unnecessary fear over a disease that may never occur. Danger and uncertainty were interrelated aspects in the ways in which our participants conceptualised risk. Participants risk perceptions seemed to be regulated by fear, followed by a need for reassurance. Differences in risk perceptions and accounts of lifestyle changes depended on people’s trust in expert information versus their own experiences. Trust in medical expertise played a significant role in the ways in which participants constructed their risk, as well as their accounts of lifestyle changes.

在西方工业化社会，无症状个体越来越多地被贴上未来疾病风险的标签，并成为公共卫生干预的目标。这些高危人群是通过健康检查、人口研究和国家筛查计划确定的。向个人传达此类风险的主要目的是激励他们改变生活方式。许多这些风险标签在医学和伦理上都是有争议的。基于风险关系理论和定性访谈的主题分析，我们探讨了被定义为有风险的个体如何感知和概念化有关患糖尿病风险的信息。采访于 2019 年进行，共有来自挪威一项正在进行的人口研究的 26 名参与者进行。参加选拔赛后，参与者被告知他们的糖化血红蛋白值升高或中等，因此有患 2 型糖尿病的风险。我们的数据揭示了一种模棱两可的情况：虽然接收到有关处于危险中的信息可能会起到提醒人们改变生活方式的脆弱性的作用，但它也会对一种可能永远不会发生的疾病产生不必要的恐惧。在我们的参与者概念化风险的方式中，危险和不确定性是相互关联的方面。参与者的风险认知似乎受到恐惧的调节，其次是需要保证。风险认知的差异和生活方式变化的描述取决于人们对专家信息的信任与他们自己的经验。对医学专业知识的信任在参与者构建风险的方式中发挥了重要作用，