Abstract

Background: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) has been proposed for the diagnosis of diabetes. However, several countries have not incorporated its use for this purpose yet and there is no consensus on a suitable cut-off point of HbA_1c for the diagnosis of diabetes. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic characteristics of HbA_1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) for the assessment of type 2 diabetes.
Methods: FPG, HbA_1c, and creatinine levels were assessed in 47 patients with type 2 diabetes and 46 healthy controls.
Results: The areas under the curve for HbA_1c ≥6.5% and FPG ≥7.0 mmol/L were 0.97 and 0.92, respectively. HbA_1c has a slightly higher ability to discriminate type 2 diabetes compared with FPG. The association between HbA_1c and type 2 diabetes was independent of gender, age, hypertension, smoking, and body mass index.
Conclusions: HbA_1c was able to be used for the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

DOI: Clin. Lab. 2012;58:347-350