Methods, units and quality requirements for the analysis of haemoglobin A1c in diabetes mellitus

Table 1 The methods commonly used for analyzing hemoglobin A_1c according to the surveys conducted by Labquality Ltd. in 1994

Numerical summary from a diabetic EDTA-blood sample 1/1994
Analyte/method group	Mean	SD	CV%	Number
GHbA1c %
Ion exchange Ciba Corning	8.7	0.4	4.3	4
Ion exchange Diamat Biorad	9.7	0.8	8.4	15
Ion exchange Kyoto Daichii	8.4	0.3	3.4	3
Ion exchange Pharmacia MonoS	9.0	0.8	8.7	17
Ion exchange Shimadzu	10.7	0.1	0.7	2
Ion exchange others	9.5	0.8	7.9	5
Ion exchange minicolumn Biorad	9.7	0.8	8.1	4
Electrophoresis Beckman	9.7	0.8	7.8	8
Affininity method Abbott Imx	8.4	0.6	7.5	15
Affininity method Abbott Vision	8.8	0.4	4.8	8
LaInIA Ames DCA 2000	9.1	0.2	2.6	29
TinIA Boehringer	9.1	1.0	10.4	15
Immunochemical others	8.8	1.7	19.3	2
All method groups	9.2	0.8	8.9	127
GHbA1
Ion exchange Ciba Corning	11.8	0.3	2.4	2
Ion exchange Diamat Bio-Rad	12.1	0.4	3.2	7
Ion exchange others	11.5	-	-	1
All methods groups	12.0	0.4	3.3	10
GHb
Affinity method Abbott Imx	13.4	0.4	2.7	2
Affinity method mini col Isolab	10.3	1.4	13.7	2
All method groups	11.8	2.0	16.5	4

HbA_1c: Hemoglobin A_1c.