Serum fructosamine in the assessment of glycaemic status in patients with sickle cell anaemia.

AIM

To assess the usefulness of fructosamine in evaluating the glycaemic status in patients with sickle cell anaemia.

METHOD

Serum fructosamine, glucose, albumin and bilirubin were measured in one hundred and fifty patients with sickle cell anaemia (HbSS), fifty poorly controlled diabetics and one hundred healthy control subjects. Fructosamine was assayed using the method of Johnson et al.

RESULTS

None of the HbSS patients had hyperglycaemia. Serum fructosamine was significantly higher in the poorly controlled Diabetics compared to the HbSS patients and the Controls. The mean serum albumin levels were within the laboratory's reference interval in the three groups of subjects studied. There was no significant correlation between fructosamine and normal serum albumin in the three groups of subjects. Moderately raised serum bilirubin concentrations in the HbSS patients did not cause any significant interference in the assay of fructosamine in the patients.

CONCLUSION

Serum fructosamine could be reliably employed as a measure of glycaemic status of patients with sickle cell anaemia with moderate hyperbilirubinaemia.