More Than You Ever Wanted to Know (But Need to Know) About Glycohemoglobin Testing

In this issue of Diabetes Care, Koskinen et al. report that fetal hemoglobin levels are increased in diabetic patients (this issue, L.K. Koskinen et al., p. 828–831). The study design was a cross-sectional one with glycohemoglobin and fetal hemoglobin determinations for 930 diabetic and 258 control subjects. The authors found thatalmost 7% of the diabetic subjects had fetal hemoglobin levels >1% compared with only∼2% of the control subjects. Furthermore, fetal hemoglobin levels were increased moreoften in those with IDDM than in those with NIDDM.