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The Role of Laboratory Evaluation in the Management of Hospital-Based DM: “When Did HbA1C Become an Inpatient Test?”

  • Diabetes and Metabolic Disease (W. Ford, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Hyperglycemia in the hospital setting is deleterious to patient outcomes. Patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM) may present with hyperglycemia when they are acutely ill. The poor outcomes associated with hyperglycemia are potentially preventable with improved protocols to screen, diagnose, and treat DM in perioperative, critically ill, and non-critically ill patients. The role of lab tests, specifically the utility of hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c), in these scenarios is not well described. HbA1c is a rapid, cost-effective test that does not require a fasting blood sample. It can be used to screen, diagnose, and monitor glycemic control in patients with pre-diabetes or DM. Newer studies also support its use as a bundled measure in hospital quality improvement initiatives. Judicious use of HbA1c in the hospital can lead to improvement in quality of diabetes care and patient outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Osteopathic Medicine, Rowan University, 42 E. Laurel Street, Suite 3100, Stratford, NJ, 08084, USA

    Sowmya Kanikkannan

  2. School of Medicine, Temple University, 3401 North Broad St, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA

    Vishad Sukul

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  1. Sowmya Kanikkannan
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  2. Vishad Sukul
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Correspondence to Sowmya Kanikkannan.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Diabetes and Metabolic Disease.

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Kanikkannan, S., Sukul, V. The Role of Laboratory Evaluation in the Management of Hospital-Based DM: “When Did HbA1C Become an Inpatient Test?”. Curr Emerg Hosp Med Rep 3, 43–49 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40138-015-0066-x

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