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Glycated albumin is lower in infants than in adults and correlated with both age and serum albumin
Author(s) -
Suzuki Shigeru,
Koga Masafumi,
Niizeki Noriyasu,
Furuya Akiko,
Takahashi Hironori,
Matsuo Kumihiro,
Tanahashi Yusuke,
Kawata Yumi,
Asai Hiroko,
Tsuchida Etsushi,
Nohara Fumikatsu,
Okamoto Toshio,
Nagaya Ken,
Azuma Hiroshi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
pediatric diabetes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.678
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1399-5448
pISSN - 1399-543X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-5448.2012.00895.x
Subject(s) - medicine , glycemic , albumin , diabetes mellitus , gastroenterology , reference range , serum albumin , endocrinology , reference values
Background Glycated albumin ( GA ) reflects glycemic control in patients with neonatal diabetes mellitus ( NDM ). However, GA in NDM patients is apparently low in relation to glycemia. Objective To establish the reference intervals for GA in healthy infants. Subjects and Methods Fifty‐eight healthy, full‐term newborn infants were used to define the GA reference values and to investigate its relationship to plasma glucose ( PG ) and serum albumin. The infants were categorized into three groups according to age: group A, 5 (4–6) median (range) d: n = 18; group B, 33 (30–38) d: n = 19; and group C, 181 (50–352) d: n = 21. We also studied 212 non‐diabetic adults [group D, 53 (28–78) yr old] and the 5 NDM patients previously reported for GA comparisons. Results In the infants, GA was strongly positively correlated with logarithmic transformation of age [log (age)] (p = 0.831, p < 0.0001). The GA in groups A, B, C, and D were 7.3 ± 1.0%, 8.6 ± 1.1%, 10.9 ± 0.8%, and 14.0 ± 1.1%, respectively. The GA was more strongly positively correlated with serum albumin (r = 0.768, p < 0.0001) than with PG (r = 0.596, p < 0.0001). When GA levels were compared with the age‐dependent reference values, GA in the transient NDM patient was normalized although GA in the four permanent NDM patients decreased but remained high after insulin therapy. Conclusions This study showed that the reference range for GA in infants is lower than that of adults and increases with age, with which we confirmed that GA in the NDM patients reflected the clinical course. Consequently, GA in NDM patients should be compared with the age‐based reference values to assess the accurate glycemic status.