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Health Experts Approve the use of HbA1c for Diagnosing Diabetes
Professor Åke Lernmark worked within the WHO Consultation Expert Group to conduct a systematic review and provide experts' opinions concerning the use of HbA1c as a diagnostic test for diabetes mellitus.
The Consultation report was released lately by the WHO which summarized the up-to-date evidences concerning the use of HbA1c as a diagnostic test in diabetes and evaluated the applicability and performance of the method used in different settings.
The report concluded that HbA1c can be used as a diagnostic test provided that rigorous quality assurance tests are used and that the assays are standardized according to the international reference values. The expert group also concluded that an HbA1c value of 6.5% is recommended as the cut-off point for diagnosing diabetes. However, a value less than 6.5% does not exclude diabetes if the diagnosis of diabetes was made using glucose tests.
Link to the full report
www.who.int/chp/media/news/releases/2011_1_diabetes/en/index.html
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