Abstract
There has been considerable interest in the serum fructosamine assay as a measure of glycated serum proteins. We have measured serum fructosamine in three groups of patients—those with uraemia; those with multiple myeloma; and those with acute inflammatory conditions—none of whom were known to have diabetes. Serum fructosamine was significantly higher in the uraemic group than in the other two, and also than in a control group. When allowance was made for prevailing serum albumin levels fructosamine was shown to be increased in the acute inflammatory group also. There was a significant correlation between random plasma glucose and serum fructosamine only when fructosamine was adjusted for prevailing albumin levels.
In control and uraemic subjects there was a significant positive correlation between serum fructosamine and albumin levels, whereas in the myeloma group there was a negative correlation with serum protein.
These data would suggest the need to take into account serum albumin levels and protein composition if serum fructosamine is accurately to reflect short-term integrated glycaemia.