Evaluation of Hemoglobin F level and its Association with HaemoglobinA1c among Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Haemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) level is one of the effective diagnostic tools used in the monitoring of diabetic patients. Furthermore, it can be used as a risk indicator for any development of complications in diabetic patients. There are some evidences that fetal haemoglobin (Hb-F) is also elevated in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and children with type1 diabetes mellitus. Elevated Hb-F is suggested to interfere with results of some HbA1c estimation methods leading to false results and this may have negative clinical sequences. Materials and Methods: This study is a laboratory based cross-sectional study, carried out during the period from September 2017 - July 2018 in Khartoum State. Blood samples were collected from a total of 82 diabetic patients who attended the Modern Medical Center for regular follow up; 41 of them with poor control (high HbA1c) and 41with good control (normal HbA1c). Adult diabetic patients with conditions known to affect Hb-F level such as Haemoglobinopathy, Leukaemia and Hereditary persistence of fetal haemoglobin were excluded from the study. Data was collected by a structured questionnaire and analyzed by a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 21. This study was approved by the scientific research committee, Faculty of medical laboratory sciences, Al Neelain University and verbal consent was obtained from each participant. HbA1c was measured by enzymatic method and Hb-F level was measured by capillary electrophoresis.