Cation-exchange, high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of hemoglobin A1c

We describe a rapid, simple, and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of hemoglobin A1c with a bonded-phase cation-exchange column. About five measurements are obtained per hour on small quantities of whole blood. Sample preparation requires no centrifugation or washing of cells. The results correlate well (r = 0.918, n = 51) with a commercially available, disposable mini-column kit. The results are insensitive to small changes in pH and temperature. Variants arising from hemoglobinopathies display different chromatographic profiles.