How is the value determined?
The doctor determines the HbA1c value by taking a blood sample. For this, venous blood is taken as standard and the value is determined from it. In the meantime, special devices that can also measure the value in capillary blood offer an alternative.
For this purpose, only a drop of blood has to be taken from the finger, similar to the conventional blood sugar determination. However, this technique has not yet become established in most practices; the gold standard is still the determination from venous blood. HbA1c is determined from blood that is usually taken from the patient via the vein.
The laboratory requires so-called whole blood, which is sent to the laboratory in an EDTA tube. Today, the measurement of the value is usually carried out fully automatically by means of photometry in an enzyme immunoassay (ELISA). Since the values within a sample can vary considerably, multiple measurements are always taken and then an average value is formed which reliably indicates the HbA1c value.
In the meantime, devices have been developed that determine the HbA1c value from capillary blood of the fingertip, but these are intended for use in medical practice. Diabetes test strips” can be bought in the pharmacy, but these measure the glucose content in the urine and can neither clearly detect nor exclude diabetes mellitus. If an elevated value is detected here, a doctor must be consulted in any case, who can then carry out a comprehensive diagnosis.
Patients with diabetes mellitus should regularly measure their blood sugar levels and learn to assess the course of their disease themselves. Blood sugar can be measured quickly and easily, and there are now even automatic measuring devices that the patient can wear on his or her arm. Although devices can be purchased for HbA1c measurement, it is questionable how reliable they are. In addition, a measurement by the patient would not be very useful either, since the evaluation and possible adjustment of the therapy must be carried out by a doctor.This will determine the value anyway with a blood sample, which also has the advantage that other values such as blood lipid values can be determined at the same time. Due to the missing sense sense an independent measurement is not to be recommended thus with Diabetikern, one should limit oneself as patients to the conventional blood sugar measurement.
