Fasting blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin levels in randomly selected ghanaian diabetic patients – the clinical implications

Abstract

This work involved the measurement of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA_1c) levels of diabetes mellitus patients as an index of glycaemic control. It was a prospective case-finding study using laboratory and general practice records. The subjects were confirmed diabetic patients, attending a Diabetic Clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana. The fasting blood glucose levels were measured in millimolar concentration and corrected glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA_1c) levels expressed as percentages. The mean level of fasting blood glucose (± standard deviation) for the non-diabetics was 4.91 ± 1.08 mmol/L and the corresponding mean value for the HbA1c was 5.40 ± 0.84%. There was a linear correlation between the fasting blood glucose and HbA_1c. Out of the 99 diabetics, 9 of them had near-normal levels of HbA1c while 64 had mean values between 12 and 16%. There was generally high levels of glycosylated haemoglobin in the majority of patients studied, reflecting their poor glycaemic control. This suggests a relatively large proportion of the diabetics could be predisposed to microvascular complications, while a small group with near-normal HbA1c levels could be prone to hypoglycaemic complications.