HbA1C - not yet ready for diabetes diagnosis
Recommendations to use haemoglobin A1c as a sole laboratory test to diagnose type 2 diabetes are premature, according to international experts including Australia’s Professor Paul Zimmet.
Paul for those who don’t know him: http://tiny.cc/KhiVt
Writing in the BMJ, they noted that a committee representing the American Diabetes Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the International Diabetes Federation had suggested an HbA1c of 6.5% or more should be sufficient to define the presence of diabetes without the need for a fasting blood glucose level or oral glucose tolerance test.
They go on to note: “The level could also be affected by iron deficiency anaemia, renal failure, medications including antiretrovirals, and”, the point I have been making for some time, “advancing age.”
They conclude “Like a fasting blood glucose level of 7 mmol/l, the proposed HbA1c threshold of 6.5% for a diagnosis of diabetes was arbitrary and needed further discussion.”
For those without a subscription to the BMJ –an overview can be found in “Endocrinology Update” [published by The Lancet] http://tiny.cc/kHEXK
