Diagnosing Diabetes Mellitus: Performance of Hemoglobin A1c Point-of-Care Instruments in General Practice Offices

In making the diagnosis of diabetes, there are several advantages using determinations of hemoglobin A1c rather than glucose measurements. These include the pre-analytics stability of hemoglobin A1c in the sample, a low within-subject biological variation, as well as being free from the dietary restrictions associated with measuring glucose.