ACTA FAC MED NAISS 2012;29(2):89-92

Retrospective meta-analysis study

UDC: 616.379-008.64:616.153.455-07

DOI:10.2478/v10283-012-0012-8

Correlation Between Hemoglobin A1C Level and Fasting Blood Glucose Level:

a Summary on the Reports in the Setting with High Prevalence of Hemoglobin Disorder

Viroj Wiwanitkit

Hainan Medical University, China; Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok Thailand


summary

The investigation of hemoglobin A1C is presently accepted as a tool for the evaluation of the glycemic control in the diabetic patients. However, due to the high cost, it is limitedly used in many developing countries. The old classical approach, fasting blood glucose determination, is still the standard method in those countries. There are many reports showing the correlation between hemoglobin A1C level and fasting blood glucose level. An interesting point is that there is a limited assessment on those reports, especially in the setting with possible problems of using hemoglobin A1C due to the interference from hemoglobin disorder. In this work, the author performed a meta-analysis by fixed effect model to summarize the reports on the correlation between hemoglobin A1C level and fasting blood glucose level in the setting with high prevalence of hemoglobin disorder, Thailand. The databases PUBMED (from 1910 to February 2012), Cochrane Library (from 1993 to February 2012) and Thai Index Medicus (from 1918 to February 2012) were used for searching the time span. Only four specific reports on the correlation between hemoglobin A1C level and fasting blood glucose have been found. All reports are homogeneous presenting a poor correlation between the two parameters. Of overall 1,207 diabetic cases, a pooled correlation coefficient is equal to 0.48. The result shows that the poor correlation might be due to the high prevalence of hemoglobin disorder in this setting. This might imply that fasting blood glucose might not be used to imply hemoglobin A1C in the areas with the background of endemic hemoglobin disorder.

Key words: diabetes mellitus, investigation, hemoglobinopathy, glucose