Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
The best predictor of diabetes is a test called
Hemoglobin A1C (HBA1C), which measures the amount of sugar
stuck on cell membranes. At the American Diabetes Association
meeting in June 2006, Dr. Peter Baginsky of Santa Rosa,
California showed that HBA1C can be used not only to identify
people who already have diabetes, but also as a screening test
to predict which people are likely to develop diabetes in the
future. This allows doctors to treat pre-diabetes before people
suffer their heart attacks, strokes and other side effects that can
be the first sign that the person has diabetes.
He also showed that people who have HBA1Cs above
5.8 have a 92 percent chance of being diabetic as determined by
a fasting glucose tolerance test. The HBA1C test does not
require fasting and can be done with only one draw of blood,
while the glucose tolerance test takes seven. It is less expensive
and has the potential to save a lot of lives by getting diabetics
into treatment earlier. More
September 15, 2006