Oral therapies impact relationship; should be considered when interpreting A1C levels
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with moderate dysglycemia or early type 2 diabetes, hemoglobin A1c (A1C) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels are strongly related, and this relationship is impacted by oral therapies but not affected by geographic region or patient ethnicity, according to research published online Feb. 8 in Diabetes Care.
Ambady Ramachandran, M.D., of the India Diabetes Research Foundation in Chennai, and colleagues analyzed baseline data from the Outcome Reduction with Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial involving 12,527 patients with dysglycemia or early type 2 diabetes, recruited from different geographic regions throughout the word and of different races and ethnicities. The aim was to investigate the relationship between A1C and FPG levels in order to determine whether this relationship was affected by the use of an oral antidiabetes drug (OAD), and to identify whether there were geographic and ethnic differences.
The investigators found that there was a strong association between FPG in the range of 5.6 to 9.0 mmol/L and the corresponding A1C, which was seen across geographic regions and ethnic groups. There was a smaller increase seen in A1C per unit increase in FPG for those taking an OAD compared with those not taking an OAD.
"These data highlight the relevance and appropriateness of the A1C test as a useful measure of glycemic status throughout the world and also suggest that OAD use or nonuse should be considered when interpreting A1C level," the authors write.
The ORIGIN trial was funded by Sanofi-Aventis.
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