Relationship between glycosylation of haemoglobin and the duration of diabetes: A study during the third trimester of pregnancy

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Abstract
The relationship between blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) has been investigated during an 8 week period in 53 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic women studied during the third trimester of pregnancy. Blood glucose estimations (fasting and 2 h post-prandially) were made an average of 41 times in each patient during this period and HbA1c was determined once at the end of the study. There was a significant correlation between both the mean blood glucose over the preceding 8 weeks and the standard deviation of the fasting blood glucose with HbA1c (r=0.69, pr=0.46, p1c divided by the mean blood glucose value). There was a significant correlation between the ‘glycosylation index’ and duration of diabetes (r=0.68, p1c or ‘glycosylation index’. These findings suggest that increasing duration of diabetes influences the post-translational formation of HbA1c and that isolated HbA1c values need to be interpreted with caution in the pregnant diabetic.