The effect of different types of anemia on HbA1c levels in non-diabetics

• Published in: BMC endocrine disorders 2023-01, Vol.23 (1), p.24-24, Article 24
• Main Authors: Alzahrani, Basil A, Salamatullah, Hassan K, Alsharm, Faisal S, Baljoon, Jamil M, Abukhodair, Abdullah O, Ahmed, Mohammed Eldigire, Malaikah, Hebah, Radi, Suhaib
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anemia; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency - diagnosis; Anemia, Megaloblastic; Anemia, Sickle Cell; beta-Thalassemia - complications; beta-Thalassemia - diagnosis; Blood diseases; Blood sugar; Data collection; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus - diagnosis; Diabetics; Electronic health records; Erythrocytes; Glucose; Glycated Hemoglobin; Glycosylated hemoglobin; HbA1c; Health aspects; Health care; Hemoglobin; Hemoglobins; Humans; Iron; Iron deficiency; Iron deficiency anemia; Medical records; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Megaloblastic anemia; Morbidity; Mortality; Nutrient deficiency; Patients; Prediabetic state; Retrospective Studies; Sickle cell anemia; Sickle cell disease; Thalassemia; Womens health; β-Thalassemia trait
• ISSN: 1472-6823; 1472-6823
• DOI: 10.1186/s12902-023-01280-y

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common diseases worldwide with significant morbidity and mortality. HbA1c remains one of the most important methods for diagnosis and monitoring of the disease. Since HbA1c is a reflection of the glucose attached to red blood cells, factors affecting hemoglobin and red blood cells' half-life can influence HbA1c measurements. This study aims to evaluate the effect of different types of anemia including iron deficiency anemia, sickle cell anemia, β -thalassemia trait, and megaloblastic anemia on HbA1c levels in a tertiary hospital over the past 6 years (2016-2022). This is a retrospective chart review study of 324 patients including those with one of the four types of anemia mentioned above and a control group. The control group were healthy adults with normal HbA1c and hemoglobin, who were not known to have diabetes or anemia. Patients with diabetes or prediabetes based on self-reporting or elevated fasting, random blood sugar, or 2 hours post-prandial blood glucose were excluded. The mean HbA1c levels were significantly higher in sickle cell anemia at 5.83% (95% CI = 5.39-6.28) and in iron deficiency anemia at 5.75% (95% CI = 5.68-5.82) when compared to the control group at 5.32% (95% CI = 5.22-5.41). However, the mean HbA1c levels in megaloblastic anemia were 5.38% (95% CI = 5.26-5.5) and 5.45% (95% CI = 5.21-5.69) in beta thalassemia trait, which were not significantly different when compared to the control group. HbA1c significantly decreased from 5.75 to 5.44% after treatment in the iron-deficient group with a p-value of