Glycated Albumin

Overview:

Use: This test is intended to be used for the quantitative measurement of glycated albumin in human serum. The measurement of glycated albumin is useful for the intermediate term (preceding 2-3 weeks) monitoring of glycemic control in patients with diabetes. HbA1c has limitations in which glycemic control may not be accurately reflected. In these conditions (such as hemolytic anemia, blood transfusion, variant hemoglobin, chronic renal failure, liver cirrhosis, iron deficiency anemia, pregnancy), GA measurement may be more appropriate over HbA1c.1

Methodology: Enzymatic

Additional Information:

To avoid the complications of diabetes mellitus, strict glycemic control is needed. Because glycated albumin (GA) reflects the state of glycemic control during the past two weeks to one month,2 it is useful for the intermediate term (preceding two to three weeks) monitoring of glycemic control in patients with diabetes.3 For evidence regarding GA and diabetes complications, a case-cohort study for DCCT/EDIC study showed that GA is a risk factor equivalent to HbA1c in the microvascular complications of diabetes.4 The ARIC study that followed nearly 11,104 patients for 20 years showed that GA, like HbA1c, is related to total mortality and heart disease.5

Peer-reviewed literature supports the use of glycated albumin (GA) as a good marker of glycemic control based on clinical outcomes, for microvascular complications, macrovascular complications, diabetes risk, prognosis in hemodialysis patients, and predicting pregnancy outcomes. GA has been shown to be useful for the intermediate-term monitoring of glycemic control in patients with diabetes. For microvascular complications, studies involving collectively more than 11,000 subjects in the USA4,6 and in China,7 followed for 5 to 20 years revealed that GA is associated with the onset and progression of diabetic microvascular complications. For macrovascular complications, studies in the USA,5 Japan,8 Korea,9,10 and China11 involving collectively more than 11,000 subjects revealed that GA is associated with vascular outcomes, atherosclerosis, poor prognosis, and mortality.