Abstract
Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is decreased by iron treatment in patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). We studied HbA1c and glycated albumin (GA) in 4 diabetic patients with IDA—2 men and 2 women aged 58.3±14.5 years old with a body mass index (BMI) of 24.1±4.0 kg/m2. We administered sodium ferrous citrate (100 mg/day) for 4-8 weeks to raise hemoglobin (Hb) and serum ferritin to normal levels. Twelve weeks after iron treatment, Hb had improved from 9.5±1.0 g/dl to 12.8±1.0 g/dl and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) from 23.4±1.0 pg to 30.3±0.9 pg. HbA1c decreased from 7.9±0.6% before treatment to 6.3±0.3% 4 weeks after treatment, gradually increasing to 7.7±1.0% at 12 weeks. Mean serum GA did not change significantly during and after iron treatment, indicating that serum GA is a more suitable marker rather than HbA1c for glycemic control, after iron treatment in diabetic patients with IDA.
