Effect of Iron deficiency on glycation of hemoglobin in non diabetics

Abstract

Background: Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) has been adopted by physicians as a surrogated for monitoring glycemic control. The use of HbA1c for the diagnosis of diabetes is now widely advocated despite caveats to its use. HbA1c concentrations are influenced by several factors including red blood cells (RBC) turnover. There are many types of anemia that affect glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values, but iron deficiency anemia (IDA) one of the most common. Further research needs to focus on the mechanistic reasons why HbA1c is higher in IDA. The study attempts to discern clinical differences in HbA1c levels in patients with IDA, compared to patients without IDA & showing the direction of such differences.Methods: 50 non diabetic anemic patients and 50 age matched healthy subjects were involved in this study. Hematological investigations were done and fasting & post prandial (PP) glucose and HbA1c level were measured in all the subjects.Results: The mean HbA1c [9.10±1.08%] in the patients with IDA was higher than that in the control non anemic group [5.21±0.45%] [P<0.001] There was no differences in the levels of fasting and PP glucose between the IDA & the control groups. [P>0.05]Conclusions: HbA1c is likely to be affected by IDA with a spurious increase in HbA1c values, conversely non IDA may lead to confusion when diagnosing diabetes using HbA1c. This article clearly identifies especially the types of anemia likely to have significantly impact on the reliability HbA1c.Ann. Clin. Chem. Lab. Med. 2016:2(2); 4-7