Serum fructosamine concentration as an index of glycemia in cats with diabetes mellitus and stress hyperglycemia.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate fructosamine concentrations in clinically healthy cats, sick cats with stress hyperglycemia, and untreated diabetic cats to determine the usefulness of this test in diagnosing diabetes mellitus in cats, and in differentiating the disease from stress-induced hyperglycemia. In addition, we evaluated if the degree of glycemic control in cats treated for diabetes influenced their serum fructosamine concentrations. In the 14 sick cats with stress hyperglycemia, the median serum fructosamine concentration (269 mumol/L) was not significantly different from the median value in the 26 clinically normal cats (252 mumol/L). Two of the 14 cats with stress hyperglycemia (14.3%) had serum fructosamine concentrations above the upper limit of the reference range (175 to 400 mumol/L); on the basis of these results, the test specificity was calculated as 0.86. In 30 cats with untreated diabetes mellitus, the median serum fructosamine concentration was 624 mumol/L, markedly higher than the value in either the normal cats or the cats with stress hyperglycemia. All but 2 of the 30 untreated diabetic cats (6.7%) had serum fructosamine concentration above the upper limit of the reference range; on the basis of these results, the sensitivity of serum fructosamine concentration as a diagnostic test for diabetes mellitus was 0.93. When 30 diabetic cats receiving treatment were divided into 3 groups according to their response to treatment (i.e., poor, fair, and good), the 16 cats that had a good response to treatment had significantly lower serum concentrations of both glucose and fructosamine compared with cats that had either a fair or poor response to treatment. A significant correlation (rs = .70, n = 100, P < .001) was found between serum concentrations of glucose and fructosamine. Results of this study indicate that quantification of serum fructosamine concentration is a meaningful test for the diagnosis of diabetes, for differentiating diabetes from stress hyperglycemia; and for monitoring the metabolic control in treated diabetic cats.