Diabetes and the Clinical Laboratory

DATE: November 16, 2020

TIME: 05:00am PST, 2:00pm CET

It may be impossible to stop the inexorable move towards pandemic levels of diabetes, but we can improve the glycaemic control in our patients, and in doing so limit long-term complications. To achieve good control there needs to be an accurate and reliable means of assessing the glycaemic status of patients. Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) has long been recognised as being central to achieving good glucose control, but variation in the way it has been reported globally has limited our ability to set target goals that can be utilised in all countries. The IFCC Working Group on HbA1c standardisation developed a complete Metrological Reference Measurement Procedure, providing clinical laboratories with calibration traceable to primary reference material with known uncertainty. Nowadays methods used worldwide in the Clinical Laboratory should be standardised to the IFCC RMP which anchors patient results through an unbroken traceability chain to Primary Reference Material.

Global standardisation has enabled national and international guidelines to be established, this has resulted in agreed targets for glycaemic control; but probably the greatest development following standardisation is the WHO accepting HbA1c as a diagnostic test for the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Haemoglobin A1c methods are fully characterised and standardised; but, in addition to understanding the methodology used when using HbA1c in clinical practice, the user requires a full understanding of the nature of its formation. Interpretation of HbA1c will depend on a number of factors relating to the individual patient, understanding these factors is important when assessing the glycaemic control in patients with diabetes, but is even more important when using HbA1c for diagnosis. Recent interest has been the effects of Covid 19 infections on Diabetic patients. While diabetic patients are impacted, the mechanism of action is poorly understood.

The use HbA1c in clinical practice, either for monitoring or diagnosis, requires an understanding of the nature of its formation, biological variation and the methodology used.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain an overall understanding of the importance of diagnosing Diabetes early

• Learn about the utility of glucose and HbA1c measurements to manage Diabetes

• Learn about the influence of COVID-19 on Diabetic patients

Webinars will be available for unlimited on-demand viewing after live event.

LabRoots is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E. ® Program. By attending this webinar, you can earn 1 Continuing Education Credit.