title: Within-subject biological variation of glucose and HbA(1c) in healthy persons and in type 1 diabetes patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several articles describing within-subject biological variation of fasting glucose and HbA(1c) in healthy populations have been published, but information about biological variation of glucose and HbA(1c) in patients with type 1 diabetes is scarce. It is reasonable to assume that type 1 diabetics differ from their healthy counterparts in this matter. The aim of our study was to estimate the biological variation of glucose and HbA(1c) in healthy subjects and in patients with type 1 diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen healthy individuals and 15 type 1 diabetes patients were included. Biological variations were calculated based on blood samples collected weekly for 10 consecutive weeks from the healthy and the eligible of the type 1 diabetes patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The within-subject variations of glucose were approximately 5% in healthy individuals and 30% in diabetes patients, and for HbA(1c) they were 1.2% in healthy individuals and 1.7% in diabetes patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, we found a high within-subject biological variation of glucose in diabetes patients as expected compared to healthy individuals (30% vs. 5%). The short-term (2 months) within-subject biological variation of HbA(1c) did not differ significantly between well regulated type 1 diabetes patients and healthy individuals (1.7% vs. 1.2%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway. sirca@online.no
authors.forename: Siri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carlsen
authors.forename: Per Hyltoft
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Svein
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skeie
authors.forename: Øyvind
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Skadberg
authors.forename: Sverre
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sandberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D002196:Capillaries; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014680:Veins
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; C517652:hemoglobin A1c protein, human