The Role of HbA1c in the Follow-Up and Control of Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction HbA1c is a biomarker that plays an essential role in the diagnosis and follow-up of diabetic patients. The sensitivity and specificity of the biomarker may be affected by common comorbidities seen in individuals with diabetes mellitus, such as kidney affection, cardiac affection, iron deficiency anemia, hemolytic anemia, hemoglobinopathies, and drug consumption. Aim To assess the role of HbA1c in the follow-up and control of Diabetes Mellitus across different patient populations and clinical scenarios. Methodology A quantitative research design to investigate the impact of residence location (inside or outside the Saudi Arabia). Through an electronic questionnaire in English and translated into Arabic, it was published online using Google Forms (Google, Mountain View, California) and was divided into three sections. Results The number of participating patients was 412 diabetic patients; their average age was from 51 to 60 years, and most of them were male. The study found a high level of awareness among diabetics about the HbA1c test, their knowledge of its importance, and their ability to perform the analysis regularly and periodically every year. However, there is a lack of practice, as most participants only performed follow-up every more than a few months, and the value of the last HbA1c test ranged between seven and ten. The percentage of diabetic patients whose cumulative blood sugar was more than ten and who did not take any action after learning of their high percentage (35.7%). Conclusion Diabetes is one of the most common health problems that continue to spread worldwide. HbA1c testing may continue to be implemented as an essential part of the diagnostic and prognostic tool, resulting in better patient care and successful clinical outcomes. Testing for glycosylated hemoglobin levels should be done every three months. Patients and doctors should be cautioned not to rely exclusively on two-hour post-prandial blood glucose results, particularly in the case of insulin-dependent diabetes.