Comparison of Two Methods for Measurement of HbA1c in Two University Hospitals of Mashhad

The aim of this study was to compare the two analytical techniques for determination of Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), consisting immunoturbidimetric and enzymatic methods. A total of 140 out-patients were included in this study. Measurements of HbA1c were done in blood samples using immunoturbidimetric and enzymatic assay. The two methods were used by clinical laboratories of Ghaem and Emam Reza hospitals in Mashhad, respectively. Our results indicate that there was no significant difference between two methods, though; the average of HbA1c measured by enzymatic method was rather higher than the other method (7.38 and 7.34, respectively). The two methods correlated well with correlation coefficient of 0.967. Both techniques were proved to be sufficiently reliable and the results of the two methods show strong correlation though, the enzymatic method has an additional advantage of simultaneous measuring total Hb which can omit the undesired effect of hemolysis occurring during sampling.