title: [Glycohemoglobin (GHb): clinical and analytical aspects].
abstract: Glycohemoglobin (GHb) has a key role in the assessment of glycemic control in diabetic patients. Several studies have clearly shown that improved glycemic control is strongly associated with decreased development and/or progression of diabetic complications in both type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, accurate determination of GHb concentration is an important issue for clinical laboratories. Several factors may affect and lead to erroneous results. We discuss the problems of standardization of GHb measurements for monitoring glycemic control and also consider the potential interfering factors on GHb measurements. Moreover, GHb assays may be affected by interference in different ways. The effect of interference may be more clinically relevant with poor metabolic control. Laboratory staff must be aware of all pitfalls to avoid adding more confusion to the clinical interpretation of HbA1c values and physicians should contact laboratories if discrepancies between clinical impressions and laboratory data are observed.
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Bioquímica, Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS. jorgegross@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Joíza Lins
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.forename: Jorge Luiz
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gross
mesh_terms: D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000592:standards; D001786:Blood Glucose; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin