Background: Although glycated albumin (GA) is a useful glycemic control marker in neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM), there has been no report comparing GA levels between NDM patients and non-diabetic infants. Moreover, GA in NDM patients may be apparently low in relation to glycemia due to the assumed elevation of albumin metabolism in neonates. Methods: We compared GA levels between 6 patients with NDM and 18 non-diabetic infants or 14 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Mean blood glucose (MBG) was calculated on the basis of self-monitoring of blood glucose for 1 month before GA measurement. Results: GA in NDM patients was significantly higher than that in non-diabetic infants (22.0 ± 5.8 vs. 10.2 ± 1.4%; p < 0.0001), and GA levels significantly correlated with MBG in both NDM and T1DM patients. However, GA in NDM patients was significantly lower than in T1DM patients (25.8 ± 5.3%; p = 0.0046), whereas MBG in NDM patients was significantly higher than in T1DM patients (233 ± 79 vs. 183 ± 41 mg/dl; p = 0.0006). Conclusion: GA levels in NDM patients were apparently low in relation to glycemia. Therefore, reference values for infants should be used for assessing the GA level in NDM.

Keywords:
Hemoglobin A1c, Neonatal diabetes mellitus, Glycated albumin, Blood glucose, Type 1 diabetes mellitus
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2012
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