Relative Inaccuracy of the A1cNow in Children With Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) confirmed the importance of tight glucose control in limiting the development of microvascular complications and established a standard for measuring A1C levels using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (1). Several studies demonstrated the benefit of rapid A1C testing in the clinic while face-to-face with the patient/family (2–4). The DCA2000 Analyzer (Bayer, Tarrytown, NY) uses an immunoassay method certified by the National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) (5). It is frequently used to provide a rapid (6 min) A1C result, enhancing the ability to optimize therapy in a timely fashion. We recently reported that the DCA2000 was highly correlated with an HPLC reference (the DCCT standard) ( r = 0.94, P < 0.001), although there was a slight bias with DCA2000 values being, on average, 0.2% higher than laboratory values (6). The A1cNow (Metrika, Sunnyvale, CA) was developed as a single-use, disposable test for measuring A1C at home. It is small, about the size of a pager, requires one drop of blood, and uses an immunoassay. Results are displayed in ∼8 min. However, there has been only one published study (7) to date assessing …