Hemoglobin HbA1c and Glucose Blood Levels in Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is defined as an absolute or relative lack of insulin, or a state of chronic hyperglycemia. Hemoglobin A₁c (HbA₁c) is a minor Hb form, produced in vivo by post-translational glycosylation. In the last 30 years, in biochemical laboratory practice, HbA₁c became a "gold standard" for clinical monitoring of DM. The aim of this study was to determine the glucose and HbA₁c levels in DM suffering patients at “Zavidovići” Health Center in different time periods,and estimate glucoregulation. The levels of HbA₁c and glucose were measured in 100 patients with 3-month time period. The results were analyzed by appropriate statistical methods, to determine whether there are statistically significant differences between the two measurements. A spectrophotometric method was used to determine the level of HbA₁c, whileglucose was determined using an enzymatic-colorimetric method on biochemical analyzer. It was found that in 61 of the total number of subjects, the levels of HbA₁c and glucose were significantly reduced (p^***<0.001) three months after the first measurement, which leads to the conclusion that their glucoregulation  have improved. In the remaining 39 subjects the levels of HbA₁c and glucose were significantly increased (p^*<0.05) in the same time period, which leads to the conclusion that their glucoregulation worsened.