Evaluation of the analytical performances of the Atellica® DCA analyzer (Siemens Healthineers) for point of care determination of HbA1c

The importance of HbA1c in the therapeutic monitoring of diabetic patients requires the use of robust and efficient assay methods, especially for point-of-care testing. This study evaluates the analytical performances of the Siemens Healthineers Atellica® DCA. After analyzing linearity and precision, the results were compared with those of the DCA Vantage (Siemens) and the Capillarys 3 Tera (Sebia, capillary electrophoresis). The main interferences (triglycerides and bilirubin) and the effect of total hemoglobin concentration were also assessed. The tests showed a good linearity over a range of 4.5 to 14 % HbA1c, and good precision with coefficients of variation ranging from 1.42 to 2.33 %. The correlation with capillary electrophoresis and the Atellica® DCA was excellent (r² = 0.991 and r² = 0.994, respectively). The accuracy of the results, assessed with external quality samples, was also satisfactory. The method is not sensitive to interference of hypertriglyceridemia up to 10 mmol/L or hyperbilirubinemia (up to 432 μmol/L), and provides reliable results even for low concentrations of total hemoglobin (down to 57,5 g/L). The Atellica® DCA also offers improved ergonomics, with a user-friendly touchscreen and can be connected to the laboratory's management software. this analyzer presents analytical performances suitable for use as point-of-care testing analyzer.