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International expert committee recommends new diagnostic diabetes test

Updated: 2009-06-08 19:33:16 CST Category: Diabetes

by Laurent Castellucci

The American Diabetes Association (ADA), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) have all joined together to recommend switching to the hemoglobin A1C assay for the diagnosis of diabetes.

"This is the first major departure in 30 years in diabetes diagnosis," committee chairman Dr David M. Nathan, director of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said when presenting the committee's findings.

The A1C test has been around for 30 years, and is currently used to measure how well a diabetic is controlling their disease. The test is more stable and reliable than the current diagnostic tests used: fasting blood glucose or glucose tolerance. In addition, it is a simple blood test, and does not require other special preparation.

The test looks at the average of your blood sugar over the last three months.

"Basically, the American Diabetes Association supports the concept, supports the use of the A1C to diagnose diabetes, and just has to look at the implications of it, and the implementation of it," Richard Kahn, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association, told CNN.

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