Single-Sample Testing May Confirm Diabetes Diagnosis

While normally a diabetes diagnosis requires multiple sample confirmations from blood work of elevated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) or glucose, new data has shown that a single-sample confirmatory diagnosis of diabetes may be possible.

Using data from 12,268 participants without diagnosed diabetes in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, researchers found that using a single blood sample had a 54.9% sensitivity but 98.1% specificity at the 5-year follow-up point, in its ability provide confirmation of a diabetes diagnosis.

The American Diabetes Association and World Health Organization recommend basing a diabetes diagnosis on at least 2 tests of the 3 standard glycemia measurements—HbA1C levels, fasting glucose level, or 2-hour plasma glucose level after an oral glucose tolerance test—from multiple samples. The organizations encourage repeat tests over a short duration, and in the cases of discordant tests, the positive one should be replicated upon the next patient visit.

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