The diagnostic value of glycated albumin in gestational diabetes mellitus

PURPOSE: Our objective was to compare the diagnostic performance of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), GA, and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) for the diagnosis of GDM. METHODS: Women at their late second or early third trimesters seen from October 2011 to April 2012 were studied. GDM was diagnosed based on oral glucose tolerance test results, and GA and HbA1c were measured at the same time. Patients were divided into two groups (with and without GDM), and areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were calculated to determine the diagnostic value of FPG, GA, and HbA1c. RESULTS: A total of 698 women were included, of which 232 (33.2%) had GDM. Overall, FPG had the highest AUC for the detection of GDM, and was significantly higher than that of GA (0.692 vs. 0.568, p < 0.001) and HbA1c (0.692 vs. 0.619, p = 0.014). The AUC of FPG was significantly greater than that of GA and HbA1c. At 24–28 weeks’ gestation, the AUCs of FPG were significantly greater than those of GA and HbA1c. CONCLUSIONS: These results do not support the use of GA as a screening tool for GDM. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40618-016-0605-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.