Criteria for the Diagnosis of Diabetes

A1C In 2009, an International Expert Committee that included representatives of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) recommended the use of the A1C test to diagnose diabetes, with a threshold of ≥6.5%1, and ADA adopted this criterion in 20102 The diagnostic test should be performed using a method certified by the National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) and standardized or traceable to the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) reference assay3 Although point-of-care A1C assays may be NGSP certified, proficiency testing is not mandated for performing the test, so use of these assays for diagnostic purposes could be problematic3 The A1C has several advantages to the FPG and OGTT, including greater convenience (since fasting is not required), evidence to suggest greater preanalytical stability, and less day-to-day perturbations during periods of stress and illness3 These advantages must be balanced by greater cost, the limited availability of A1C testing in certain regions of the developing world, and the incomplete correlation between A1C and average glucose in certain individuals3 In addition, HbA1C levels may vary with patients’ race/ethnicity4,57References International Expert Committee: International Expert Committee report on the role of the A1C assay in the diagnosis of diabetes. Diabetes Care 2009;32:1327-1334. American Diabetes Association. Diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 2010;33(suppl 1):S62-S69. American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes—2013. Diabetes Care 2013;36(suppl 1):S11-S13; Table 2. Ziemer DC, Kolm P, Weintraub WS, et al. Glucose-independent, black-white differences in hemoglobin A1c levels: a cross-sectional analysis of 2 studies. Ann Intern Med 2010;152:770-777. Kumar PR, Bhansali A, Ravikiran M, et al. Utility of glycated hemoglobin in diagnosing type 2 diabetes mellitus: a community-based study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2010;95:2832-2835.