Glycated Haemoglobin: An Assessment of High Capacity Liquid Chromatographic and Immunoassay Methods

Abstract

We have assessed five high-throughput systems for the measurement of glycated haemoglobin and have reviewed published evaluations of individual analysers. All systems offered better precision than a widely used electroendosmosis method. The low pressure chromatography and immunoassay systems demonstrated greater between-batch imprecision than the high performance liquid chromatography analysers, the latter achieving the proposed analytical goal of between-batch coefficients of variation less than 5%. Agreement between all systems measuring HbA₁ was good but there was variability amongst observed HbA_1c values. The systems were also assessed for their quality of chromatographic separation, simplicity of operation, flexibility, cost and potential for interference by other haemoglobins.