Glycohemoglobin measured by automated affinity HPLC correlates with both short-term and long-term antecedent glycemia

Abstract

We evaluated glycohemoglobin (GHb) and glycated plasma protein (GPP) by automated affinity HPLC for their ability to monitor both short-term and long-term antecedent glycemia in 70 diabetic subjects. We placed 30 subjects on an intervention protocol in which insulin and (or) dietary changes were made twice weekly to acutely decrease glycemia. We monitored 40 subjects at 6-week intervals; changes in the clinical regimen were made at that time only. Despite weekly changes in mean blood glucose in the subjects who received more intensive intervention, GHb concentrations correlated significantly with the weekly (r = 0.66, P <0.001), 2-week (r = 0.70, P <0.001), 3-week (r = 0.72, P <0.001), and 6-week (r = 0.83, P <0.001) mean glucose concentrations. GPP correlated significantly with measured glycated albumin determined by boronate affinity columns (r = 0.83, P <0.001), 2-week (r = 0.64, P <0.001) mean antecedent glucose concentration. Thus, GHb, traditionally considered a marker for only long-term diabetic control, correlated significantly with both short-term and long-term antecedent glycemia.