A preliminary study of glycosylation of hair in diabetes mellitus.

ABSTRACT

Glycosylation of hair was studied in 30 diabetic (15 IDDM and 15 NIDDM) patients and in 30 age and sex matched healthy non-diabetic subjects. A positive correlation occurs between glycosylation of proximal portion of hair and the simultaneously measured glycosylated haemoglobin. The hair glycosylation remains stable along the length of hair from scalp to tip in normal subjects and suggests that a sufficiently long hair sample may offer a long term record of degree of hyperglycaemia. This may be useful in the investigation of hyperglycaemia and microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus. The level of glycosylation of hair is independent of duration of the disease, age, sex and race of the patient and colour of the hair, thus providing a universal index of hyperglycaemia in the control of diabetic state. Glycosylation of hair is perhaps the most non-invasive technique readily acceptable to the patients and yet provides a fairly accurate and reliable information regarding hyperglycaemia in the preceding duration in which the hair has been grown.