(21-06-10) International Consensus Reached on Reporting Hemoglobin A1c Values

Laboratory reporting of hemoglobin A1cshould be standardized worldwide using
two sets of units, according to a joint consensus statement from five
professional societies.
The statement calls for HbA1cresults to be reported by clinical laboratories
in Syst?me International (SI) units (mmol/mol ? no decimals), and derived
National Glycohaemoglobin Standardisation Program (NGSP) units (% ? one
decimal). The HbA1cvalue will be derived using a master equation to convert it
to the familiar currently used units (i.e. 6.0%, 7.0%).
HbA1ctest results should be standardized worldwide, and HbA1cconversion tables
including both SI and NGSP units should be easily accessible to the diabetes
community, according to the statement, endorsed by the American Diabetes
Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the
International Diabetes Federation, the International Federation of Clinical
Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), and the International Society for
Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes.
Editors of journals and other printed material are strongly recommended to
require that submitted manuscripts report HbA1cin both sets of units.
This issue arose several years ago, when the IFCC adopted a new standardized
reference measurement system for HbA1cwith higher specificity than the previous
one. Rather than causing confusion by switching to the new, lower values for
HbA1c, it was decided to use the SI values (mmol/mol), along with the converted
HbA1cvalues.
There has also been discussion about using an ?estimated average glucose?
value which would be reported in the familiar glucose units mg/dL or mmol/L,
but not all populations have been evaluated adequately in order to be able to
do that. The consensus recommendations apply through 2011, when they will be
discussed again at the next consensus meeting at the International Diabetes
Federation meeting in Dubai December 2011, the statement says.
No conflicts of interest were stated by coauthors Dr. Ragnar Hanas of
Uddevalla (Sweden) Hospital, or Dr. Garry John, of Norwich (England) University
Hospital.
The consensus statement is availableonlineat www.easd.org.

Fonte: univadis.it

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