Published online Apr 15, 2014. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v5.i2.198
Revised: January 24, 2014
Accepted: March 13, 2014
Published online: April 15, 2014
Processing time: 142 Days and 20.5 Hours
Neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM) is a type of diabetes mellitus caused by genetic abnormality which develops in insulin dependent state within 6 mo after birth. HbA1c is widely used in clinical practice for diabetes mellitus as the gold standard glycemic control indicator; however, fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is the main hemoglobin in neonates and so HbA1c cannot be used as a glycemic control indicator in NDM. Glycated albumin (GA), another glycemic control indicator, is not affected by HbF. We reported that GA can be used as a glycemic control indicator in NDM. However, it was later found that because of increased metabolism of albumin, GA shows an apparently lower level in relation to plasma glucose in NDM; measures to solve this problem were needed. In this review, we outlined the most recent findings concerning glycemic control indicators in neonates or NDM.
Core tip: Neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM) is a type of diabetes mellitus caused by genetic abnormality which develops in insulin dependent state within 6 mo after birth. Because fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is the main hemoglobin in neonates, HbA1c cannot be used as a glycemic control indicator in NDM. On the other hand, glycated albumin (GA), another glycemic control indicator, is not affected by HbF. We reported that GA can be used as a glycemic control indicator in NDM. In this review, we outlined the most recent findings concerning glycemic control indicators in neonates or NDM.