Hemoglobin A1c and diagnosis of diabetes

Abstract The prevalence of diabetes is increasing dramatically throughout the world, especially in China. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is an indicator of mean blood glucose concentrations and plays an important role in the assessment of glucose control and cardiovascular risk. In 2010 the American Diabetes Association (ADA) included HbA1c ≥6.5% into the revised criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes. However, the debate on whether HbA1c should be used to diagnose diabetes is far from being settled and there are still unanswered questions regarding the cutoff value of HbA1c for diabetes diagnosis in different populations and ethnicities. This review briefly introduced the history of HbA1c from discovery to diabetes diagnosis, key steps towards using HbA1c to diagnosing diabetes such as standardization of HbA1c measurements and controversies on HbA1c cutoff points, and its performance compared with glucose measurements in the diagnosis of diabetes.
Source: Journal of Diabetes - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: Review Article Source Type: research