[Fructosamine, a new marker of blood glucose control in the diabetic]

Serum fructosamine assay is a new, simple and fast method used to evaluate serum glycosylprotein concentrations. We performed this assay in 96 healthy controls, 95 patients with diabetes (insulin-dependent in 71, non insulin-dependent in 24) and 23 non diabetic pregnant women. Serum fructosamine concentrations were increased and correlated with percents of glycosyl haemoglobin in all diabetics, irrespective of the type of diabetes. However, the low correlation coefficient and the fact that some individual values plotted were distant from the regression slope suggested that fructosamine does not have the same biological significance as glycosyl haemoglobin: the formation and degradation kinetics of these two substances are known to be very different. Fructosamine values were tightly close together in controls and in pregnant women, the latter showing lower values.