Implications of iron deficiency/anemia on the classification of diabetes using HbA1c

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Nonglycemic factors like iron deficiency (ID) or anemia may interfere with classification of diabetes and prediabetes using hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). However, few population-based studies of diabetes in areas with endemic ID/anemia have been conducted. We aimed to determine how mutually exclusive categories of ID alone, anemia alone and iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) were each associated with prediabetes and diabetes prevalence using fasting blood glucose (FBG) versus HbA1c in a population-based study of adults with endemic ID/anemia. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We used data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a longitudinal, population-based study across 228 communities within nine provinces of China. This analysis included 7308 adults seen in the 2009 survey aged 18-75 years. We used descriptive and covariate-adjusted models to examine relative risk of prediabetes and diabetes using FBG alone, HbA1c alone, HbA1c and FBG, or neither (normoglycemia) by anemia alone, ID alone, IDA or normal iron/hemoglobin. RESULTS: Approximately 65% of individuals with diabetes in our sample were concordantly classified with diabetes using both FBG and HbA1c, while 35% had a discordant diabetes classification: they were classified using either FBG or HbA1c, but not both. Fewer participants with ID alone versus normal iron/hemoglobin were classified with diabetes using HbA1c only. From covariate-adjusted, multinomial regression analyses, the adjusted prevalence of prediabetes using HbA1c only was 22% for men with anemia alone, but 13% for men with normal iron/hemoglobin. In contrast, the predicted prevalence of prediabetes using HbA1c only was 8% for women with ID alone, compared with 13% for women with normal iron/hemoglobin. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest potential misclassification of diabetes using HbA1c in areas of endemic ID/anemia. Estimating diabetes prevalence using HbA1c may result in under-diagnosis in women with ID and over-diagnosis in men with anemia.