Glycated haemoglobin: an assessment of high capacity liquid chromatographic and immunoassay methods

We have assessed five high-throughput systems for the measurement of glycated haemoglobin and have reviewed published evaluations of individual analysers. All systems offered better precision than a widely used electroendosmosis method. The low pressure chromatography and immunoassay systems demonstrated greater between-batch imprecision than the high performance liquid chromatography analysers, the latter achieving the proposed analytical goal of between-batch coefficients of variation less than 5%. Agreement between all systems measuring HbA1 was good but there was variability amongst observed HbA1c values. The systems were also assessed for their quality of chromatographic separation, simplicity of operation, flexibility, cost and potential for interference by other haemoglobins.