HbA1c Measurements Do Not Improve the Detection of Type 2 Diabetes in a Randomly Selected Population
- Mayer B. Davidson, MD1,
- David L. Schriger, MD, MPH2 and
- Brett Lorber, MPH2
- 1Department of Internal Medicine, Charles R. Drew University, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles
- 2UCLA Emergency Medicine Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
Perry et al. (1) compared the sensitivity of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) concentrations and HbA1c levels to diagnose diabetes in high-risk subjects whose 2-h glucose concentrations on an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) exceeded 11.1 mmol/l (200 mg/dl) and therefore met the OGTT criterion for diabetes (2). A total of 950 subjects with the following high-risk parameters were recruited: 1) obesity (BMI ≥24 kg/m2), 2) a family history of diabetes, and 3) individuals who had been told that they had “a touch of sugar,” “borderline diabetes,” or “glucose intolerance.” Of these subjects, 244 had FPG concentrations between 5.5 and 8.0 mmol/l (99 and 144 mg/dl) and underwent an OGTT. Of the 121 subjects with OGTT-diagnosed diabetes, 101 had complete data that also included FPG and HbA1c values; 45% had …
