• Hui Huang, Guicheng Peng, Maohuan Lin, Kun Zhang, Yifang Wang, Yu Yang, Zhiyi Zuo, Renhua Chen, and Jingfeng Wang.
• Department of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510120, China; Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, Guangzhou 510120, China.
• Prev Med. 2013 Oct 1; 57 (4): 345-50.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to determine the diagnostic threshold of HbA1c for diabetes and the impact of using it on diabetes prevalence.MethodsA population-based stratified study was conducted in 2010 among community-dwelling adults aged ≥35years in southern China. Participants without previously-diagnosed diabetes (PDD) took oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and HbA1c assay. HbA1c diagnostic threshold was determined by receiver operating characteristic curve.ResultsA total of 6989 participants with mean age of 52years were recruited. The area under curve of HbA1c was 0.903 (95% CI: 0.883-0.922), with optimal cut-off value at 6.25% (sensitivity 75.6% and specificity 91.9%). There were 449 (6.42%) patients with PDD and 422 (6.04%), 815 (11.66%) and 918 (13.13%) new cases diagnosed by OGTT, HbA1c ≥6.25% or either, respectively. When either HbA1c or OGTT was used, newly-diagnosed diabetes prevalence increased by 117.4%.ConclusionsDiabetes is prevalent in southern China. Near half of the patients go undetected with current diagnostic criteria. HbA1c ≥6.25% may be the diagnostic threshold value but needs further verification. The introduction of HbA1c threshold into diabetes diagnosis in China will cause a substantial increase in diabetes prevalence and great challenge on the public healthcare system.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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