Abstract:
Diabetes mellitus is an etiologically complex metabolic defect, characterized basically by an
elevated blood glucose concentration. At present all countries across the globe, regardless of their
developmental stages, face an increasing burden of diabetes mellitus. Diagnosis and monitoring of
diabetes are done by many laboratory investigations. This review article discusses the potential of
HbAlc in the diagnosis of diabetes and monitoring of glycemic control while looking into the
characteristics of alternative novel markers of glycaemic control.
Available literature emphasized that HbAlc is the more accepted, accurate, easy-to-administer,
confirmatory and reference test. The prognostic potential of HbAlc lies in its unique capability
of assessing the retrospective glycemic control and predicting diabetic complications. However,
the cut-off points of HbAlc, its sensitivity, some testing strategies, interferences and costs are
heavily debated. Findings of the review conclude that the appropriate combinations of FBG,
OGTT, HbAlc and novel alternative biomarkers of glycemic control, significantly enhances the
diagnostic accuracy of these individual tests and such combination provide concrete information
for more comprehensive diagnoses and effective treatment plans
