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Published on: July 5, 2022
Diagnostic testing for diabetes using HbA(1c) in the Abu Dhabi population: Weqaya: the Abu Dhabi cardiovascular
Cother Hajat1, Oliver Harrison, Zaid Al Siksek
1Department of Public Health and Research, Health Authority, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. chajat@haad.ae
Objective:
The validity of HbA(1c) as a population diagnostic tool was tested against oral glucose tolerance testing in Abu Dhabi nationals.
Research Design And Methods:
The screening tool of HbA(1c) and random glucose was validated against the "gold standard" oral glucose tolerance test according to World Health Organization criteria.
Results:
The HbA(1c) threshold of 6.4% provided the optimum balance between sensitivity (72.0%) and specificity (84.3%) with positive and negative predictive values of 47.9 and 93.7% and area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.78. This threshold compares with a threshold of 6.5% recommended by the International Scientific Committee and American Diabetes Association and of 6.3% in a recent study in China.
Conclusions:
This study successfully validates the feasibility and threshold of HbA(1c) for diagnosis of diabetes at the population level in a Middle-Eastern population. This result is a major step in the fight to tackle the increasing burden of diabetes in the United Arab Emirates.
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