Glycohemoglobin screening in adolescents attending to the Department of Paediatrics at a tertiary hospital in Turkey.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate glycohemoglobin (HbAIc) levels in adolescents without diabetes, attending to our Adolescent Day Care Clinic.


METHODS
We studied on randomly selected 186 subjects aged between 9 and 18 years. HbA1c levels were measured in all subjects and those whose HbA1c levels >95th percentile were invited for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Homeostasis of model assessment (HOMA-IR) value was used to define insulin resistance in subjects who underwent OGTT.


RESULTS
The median age of all subjects was 11 (min 9-max 18) years and 50.5% were boys. The median HbA1c level was higher in boys (5.2%; min 4.4-max 6.2) than girls (5.0%; min 4.0-max 6.4) (p=0.001). Fasting glucose was positively correlated to HbA1c (r=0.26, p=0.001). HOMA-IR values were >2.5 in six subjects and four of them were obese while two had impaired glucose tolerance. In multivariate analysis, it was observed that gender (boy) and high-fasting glucose levels were associated with high-HbA1c levels (OR 1.9, CI 95%: 1.0-3.4, p=0.02 and OR 1.1, CI 95%: 1.0-1.1, p=0.001, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
We believe that routine HbA1c screening is not necessary for adolescents without diabetes. However screening may become desirable in the future at least for obese adolescents.
Dilli
Dilek
D
Department of Paediatrics, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. dilekdilli2@yahoo.com
Bostanci
Ilknur
I
Dallar
Yildiz
Y
Gücük
Sabahat
S
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008487:Medical History Taking; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014421:Turkey
D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin