RESUMO
Glycated haemoglobin [HbAlc] which is an index of long term glycaemic control in diabetic patients is measured in majority of patients worldwide. Glycated albumin [GA] is useful for the evaluation of short term glycaemic control [2 weeks] in patients with diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess the GA levels at different stages of diabetic nephropathy in Indian population. A total of 147 subjects [M:F; 95:52] were selected for this study and were divided into three groups based on their renal function and compared with a non diabetic control group [n = 50, M:F; 14:36]. The groups were as follows; group1 [control] n = 50, group2 [normoalbuminuria] n = 42, group 3 [microalbuminuria] n = 55, group 4 [proteinuria] n = 50. GA was measured by enzymatic procedure using the Lucica GA - L kit [Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp, Japan]. The normal cutoff value for GA was derived using control group and it was found to be 15% [range 7-17%]. GA was significantly higher in diabetic patients at different stages of diabetic nephropathy compared to non diabetic control group [cont: 12.9 +/- 1.8, normo: 20.8 +/- 5.8, micro: 26.1 +/- 8.6, macro: 23.5 +/- 8.3]. Microalbuminuric patients had significantly higher GA levels than normoalbuminuric patients [p< 0.05]. Proteinuric subjects had slightly lower GA levels compared to microalbuminuric group but it was not statistically significant. GA was found to be a better marker for evaluating short term glycaemic status among diabetic patients with different degree of renal impairment prior to ESRD