Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: June | Volume: 6 | Issue: 6 | Pages: 287-293
Can Oxalate-Fluoride Vacutainers Be Used for Measurement of Co-Requested HbA1c along With Blood Glucose? - A Hospital Based Study in Northern India
Dr. Rajani Kumawat1, Dr. Seema Patel2, Dr. Vandana Saini3, Dr. Charanjeet Kaur4
1Senior Resident, AIIMS Jodhpur
2Assistant Professor, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana
3Associate Professor, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi
4Professor & HOD Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi
Corresponding Author: Dr. Vandana Saini
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) has been primarily used as a prognostic marker to identify average amount of plasma glucose concentration over the past 12 to 16 weeks. HbA1c is increasingly being used as diagnostic marker in assessment of diabetes mellitus patients. Mostly, the available commercial kits for HbA1c estimation require whole blood to be collected in EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) anticoagulant. This necessitates additional blood sample collection for glucose estimation in fluoride/potassium oxalate vial, in case of both HbA1c and blood sugar test requisition from same patient. This study was designed to determine the effect of EDTA and fluoride/potassium oxalate anticoagulants on HbA1c estimation and also to observe the variation in values of HbA1c after one-week storage at -200 C.
Methods: Blood samples were collected in both EDTA and fluoride/potassium oxalate vials from 280 randomly selected patients of either sex. The estimation of HbA1c was done using Latex agglutination inhibition method.
Results: There were no significant changes in HbA1c values between EDTA and fluoride/oxalate vacutainers estimated on same day as well as after seven days of sample storage at -200 C. The two methods, using different anticoagulants, were found to be comparable on Bland-Altman plot comparison.
Conclusions: The fluoride/oxalate vacutainer used for estimation of plasma glucose can also be used for HbA1c estimation. It can also be accounted that the avoidance of an additional vacutainer will definitely improve patient compliance and reduce the cost of resources.
Key words: Glycated hemoglobin, HbA1c, Anticoagulant, EDTA, Fluoride/oxalate vacutainer
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