PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Behan, Kristina Jackson
TI  - Cessation of Menstruation Improves the Correlation of FPG to Hemoglobin A1c in Caucasian Women
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.19.4.225
DP  - 2006 Oct 01
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
PG  - 225--230
VI  - 19
IP  - 4
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/19/4/225.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/19/4/225.full
SO  - Clin Lab Sci2006 Oct 01; 19
AB  - BACKGROUND: Anemia is known to cause spurious hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) results. The effect of menstruation on HbA1c was tested by correlating it to FPG in non-anemic premenopausal and in menopausal women.METHOD: Non-diabetic, non-obese middle-aged Caucasian women were classified as premenopausal or menopausal. Hemogram, FPG, and A1c results were obtained.RESULTS: Hemoglobin concentrations were lower in the premenopausal group. FPG showed a poor correlation to A1c value overall (r = 0.251, p = 0.001) which was improved by multiplying the A1c % by the total hemoglobin concentration to create an absolute A1c value (r = 0.362, p = 0.000). When the data was sorted by menopause status, the correlation of FPG to Absolute A1c improved (r = 0.463, p = 0.000) in the menopausal women, but remained low (r = 0.283, p = 0.005) in the premenopausal women.CONCLUSIONS: Menstruation may be a significant factor affecting the accuracy of A1c concentrations.ABBREVIATIONS: A1c = hemoglobin A1c; BMI = body mass index; CI = confidence interval, FPG = fasting plasma glucose; HbA1c = hemoglobin A1c; MBG = mean blood glucose; MCV: mean corpuscular volume; NGSP = National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program; RDW = red blood cell distribution width.