Glycated albumin is a potential diagnostic tool for diabetes mellitus.

ABSTRACT

Using a community-based population cross-sectional study, we investigated the validity of an enzymatic method for glycated albumin (GA) measurements and evaluated its utility as a diagnostic tool for diabetes mellitus (DM). In total, 1,211 participants from the city of Harbin, People's Republic of China, were enrolled in the study. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for GA, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measurements in diagnosed and undiagnosed DM were compared, based on a definition of DM using 1999 WHO criteria. We also estimated the correlation among GA, HbA1c and other clinical characteristics. Significant and positive correlations of fasting serum GA with FPG (r = 0.8097) and HbA1c (r = 0.8976) were found in participants enrolled in the study. ROC analysis for GA predicting undiagnosed DM with a cut-off point of 15.7% was similar to that of FPG and HbA1c. Therefore, our data indicate that GA is a potential tool for DM diagnosis.