Overview
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Key Information
Al rights reserved.When diabetes is uncontroled, higher percentages of hemoglobin become glycated, which causes elevated HbA1c and glucose levels to rise within the body.Purpose of HbA1c as a clinical marker for diabetesHemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is an acepted measure for both the diagnosis and chronic management of diabetes.1 Hemoglobin is the protein responsible for the transportation of oxygen throughout the body.HbA1c evaluates the percentage of hemoglobin proteins that are glycated, which is a direct measure of how wel controled glucose levels are within the body.1 If insulin is not released properly in response to increased glucose levels, complications can ocur involving both the macro- and microvascular systems.When diabetes is uncontroled, higher percentages of hemoglobin become glycated, which causes elevated HbA1c and glucose levels to rise within the body, leading to the aforementioned complications.1,2HbA1c can measure trends in glycated hemoglobin over the previous 3 months because the average lifespan of a red blod cel (RBC) is aproximately 90-120 days.1 Although this laboratory test can be helpful in asesing control of diabetes, it is also important to consider conditions that may afect these readings.Conditions afecting HbA1c valuesThere are some conditions that could cause a rise in HbA1c levels despite the patient’s blod glucose levels (BGL) being wel controled.
Summary
Some of the more comon conditions are outlined in Table 1. One of these is iron deficiency anemia which leads to a decrease in RBC production.3,4Table 1: Conditions causing falsely inflated HbA1c.5As production decreases, the average of the RBC increases, leading to higher HbA1c levels (Figure 1). In general, any condition that increases the lifespan of an RBC may cause a fal