Abstract
To determine the clinical significance of serum fructosamine (FA) as a screening test for diabetes mellitus, 227 subjects were given an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and serum FA, HbA1 and total protein were measured at the same time. Serum FA was measured by a new colorimetric determination (Fructosamine Test “Roche”). According to the 75 g OGTT pattern based on the recommendation of the Japan Diabetes Association (1982), all the subjects were divided into three groups, normal (group N), borderline (group B), and diabetes (group D). The FA level was 3.47±0.49 mmol/l in group D, which was significantly higher than that in group N (2.59±0.17)(p<0.001). The serum FA level was also significantly correlated with fasting plasma glucose, HbA1 and the sum of blood glucose values during the OGTT. Furthermore, nearly 90% of the group D cases were detected when the cut-off level of FA was set at 2.9 mmol/l, which was close to the value of x+2SD in healthy individuals. These findings suggest that measurement of serum FA is useful as a screening test for diabetes mellitus.
