Age does not influence levels of HbA1c in normal subject

Abstract

To resolve whether haemoglobin A1c(HbA1c) levels in normal subjects increase with age, we measured HbA1c in 399 patients undergoing routine oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The OGTT results categorized the patients into 127 normal, 94 impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 178 diabetic. None of these groups showed a significant correlation between HbA1c and age and we cannot, therefore, see a need for age-specific reference ranges for HbA1c. Some of the confusion in the literature may have arisen from less rigorous categorization of subjects than we used, resulting in the inclusion of some individuals with IGT or diabetes in the 'normal' groups of other studies. The prevalence of such abnormality would be expected to be greater amongst older subjects, falsely suggesting a correlation between HbA1c and age, and we were able to demonstrate this with our own data when insufficiently rigorous criteria were applied for the selection of normal subjects.

The long and winding road to optimal HbA1c measurement

“…In addition, hemoglobin variants or adducts can cause method-specific interferences. Investigators have also reported a certain degree of between-individual variability in HbA1c resulting from a number of potential factors such as age or race [54–56], although the issue of whether these differences are caused by direct HbA1c interference or actual differences in mean glycemia is a subject of debate.…”

Does abnormal insulin action or insulin secretion explain the increase in prevalence of impaired glucose metabolism with age in populations of different ethnicities?

“…Different opinions exist, however, on whether IR increases with age as does IGT [3,4]. Similarly, a positive correlation of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) with age has been reported from some studies [5,6] but not in others [7,8]. The ageing of populations may further increase the burden of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes [impaired fasting glucose (IFG)/IGT] on health care systems worldwide [9].…”

Cost effectiveness and cost utility of the noncoding blood glucose meter CONTOUR® TS

“…An additional limitation was assigning patients in each of the analyzed groups a constant HbA 1C level throughout the 26-year analysis horizon. However, the clinical study23 by Wiener and Roberts showed that there was no correlation between patient age and HbA 1C levels. The reliability of the methods used in this analysis further strengthen the conclusion that use of the CONTOUR ® TS system to replace manually coded blood glucose meters in diabetes management schemes is associated with a significant advantage with respect to cost utility and cost effectiveness from the perspectives of the payer and the public payer over a 26-year analysis horizon.…”