Certain Patients With Sickle-Cell Trait May Have Lower HbA1c Levels, Possibly Causing Clinicians To Miss Signs Of Diabetes, Research Indicates.

A genetic trait that affects red blood cells and is fairly common among African Americans and Hispanic Americans can cause an important blood sugar test to miss signs of diabetes, researchers” found. The NPR (2/7, Harris) “Shots” blog and “All Things Considered” program report that African-Americans with the sickle cell trait appear to have lower HbA1c levels than African-Americans without the trait, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Brown University found after examining data from two large studies encompassing some 4,600 patients. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/07/513891129/the-a1c-blood-sugar-test-may-be-less-accurate-in-african-americans