Clinical usefulness of glycated albumin

Abstract

Glycated albumin refers to albumin to which glucose has bonded. The amount of glycated albumin decrease or increase as and when plasma glucose changes.  Glycated albumin is measured when diabetes therapy is initiated to determinethe medication regimens and doses to assess over all efficacy of therapy. Currently endocrinologists   use only HbA1C to monitor diabetic control over the preceding 2-3 months. However HbA1C does not accurately reflect the actual state of glycemic control in patients with anemia, variant hemoglobins and also in chronic kidney diseases. Glycated albumin accurately reflects changes in plasma glucose during a short term of 2-3 weeks and will be useful to monitor changes in glucose level after 2 hours of meal and it correlates well with such changes. Fructosamine measures total concentration of glycated serum proteins including albumin which can fluctuate due to acute or systemic illness or chronic liver disease. Glycated albumin measures the ratio of GA to total albumin and hence minimizes interference due to GA and Non-GA. This article enumerates the research finding during the last decade on the clinical usefulness of GA and recommends its use as a routine glycemic control marker to assess short term changes in plasma glucose.