A Comparative Evaluation of Estimation of Glycated Haemoglobin by Immunoturbidimetry and High Performance Liquid Chromatography in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Kolkata

Glycated haemoglobin is a glycoprotein formed as a result of irreversible non-enzymatic addition of D-glucose to N-terminal valine residues of the Beta chain of haemoglobin. HbA1c has emerged as a reliable parameter both for diagnosing and assessing the effectiveness of treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. Various methods like immunoturbidimetry, HPLC, Boronate affinity chromatography are used to measure HbA1c.The aim of this study was to compare and analyse the two methods for measuring HbA1c – immunoturbidimetry and HPLC. Blood were collected from 110 patients in EDTA vials from the General Medicine OPD at NRS Medical College and Hospital for HbA1c estimation. The glycated haemoglobin was quantified by immunoturbidimetry method in Konelab 60i and by HPLC in Transasia Erba Hb-vario. The performance of both the methods was assessed using dedicated control. Values obtained by both the methods were tabulated in Microsoft Excel 2007 and statistical analysis was done using SPSS 22. The distribution of data was non-Gaussian and the values of two methods were found to be in agreement by Bland-Altman method and positively correlated. The HbA1c values are in agreement with each other by both the methods. However, the cut off limits of both the methods may be different and need to be determined with adequate sample size.