To Study the Correlation between Iron Deficiency Anemia and HbA1c Levels in Non Diabetics

Purpose: Iron deficiency anemia is the most occurring formof anemia in India. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is used in diabeticpatients as an maker to reflect glucose levels of the last 3months. Like blood sugar levelsHbA1c levels are also affectedby presence of variant hemoglobin, hemolytic anemia,nutritional anemias, uremia, pregnancy and acute blood loss.However, reports on the effects of iron deficiency anemia onHbA1clevels are inconsistent. We conducted this study with anaim to analyze the effects of iron deficiency anemia onHbA1clevels among non-diabetics.Methods: 200 patients with Hb<10g/dl underwent peripheralblood film testing. All patients with microcytic hypochromicanemia underwent iron studies .Out of these, 100 non diabeticpatients diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia underwentHbA1c test and data was statically analysed.Results: We found that incidence of iron deficiency anemiawas 54%. Serum iron and ferritin concentrations are inverselyassociated with HbA1c concentration and that HbA1cconcentration tended to be higher in the presence of irondeficiency anemia.Conclusion: This study found a positive correlation betweeniron deficiency anemia and increased HbA1c levels. Hence,Iron deficiency anemia has to be kept in mind before using theHbA1c to diagnose diabetes.