[A comparison of fasting glucose and HbA1c for the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus among Korean adults].
OBJECTIVE
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has recently recommended the HbA1c assay as one of four options for making the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, with a cut-point of ≥ 6.5%. We compared the HbA1c assay and the fasting plasma glucose level for making the diagnosis of diabetes among Korean adults.


METHODS
We analyzed 8710 adults (age 45-74 years), who were not diagnosed as having diabetes mellitus, from the Namwon study population. A fasting plasma glucose level of ≥ 126 mg/dL and an A1c of ≥ 6.5% were used for the diagnosis of diabetes. The kappa index of agreement was calculated to measure the agreement between the diagnosis based on the fasting plasma glucose level and the HbA1c.


RESULTS
The kappa index of agreement between the fasting plasma glucose level and HbA1c was 0.50.


CONCLUSIONS
The agreement between the fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c for the diagnosis of diabetes was moderate for Korean adults.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Korea.
Woo Jun
WJ
Yun
Min Ho
MH
Shin
Sun Seong
SS
Kweon
Kyeong Soo
KS
Park
Young Hoon
YH
Lee
Hae Sung
HS
Nam
Seul Ki
SK
Jeong
Yong Woon
YW
Yun
Jin Su
JS
Choi
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005215:Fasting; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged
D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin