Effect of Microcytosis on HbA1c Values in Non-Diabetic Persons

Abstract

Background: Glycated hemoglobin is a necessary test for assessment of control, compliance, modifying management, follows up and now-a-days for diagnosis of patients with prediabetes and diabetes mellitus. Microcytosis, which is a laboratory finding that found in a wide range of common diseases, appears to be found in a significant percentage of diabetic and non-diabetic persons and may affect the measured glycated hemoglobin values.
Aim of study: This study tries to evaluate the effect of microcytosis in non-diabetic subjects on the level of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c %).
Patients and Methods: HbA1c% measured in 80 non-diabetic patients with microcytosis after exclusion of factors that may affect the results compared to 80 healthy subjects with normocytic blood picture as a control group.
Results: The HbA1c level was significantly higher among patients with microcytosis as compared to normocytic control group. The mean HbA1c (5.8± 0.9%) in the patients was higher than that in the control group (5.3% ± 0.7) (p=0.001).
Conclusions: Microcytosis may affect significantly the HbA1c results and may wrongly affect management decisions in diabetic patients.