We report that glycated albumin (GA) is higher relative to HbA1c in non-diabetic, gastrectomized subjects without anemia, and thus is a sign of oxyhyperglycemia. It is known that gastrectomized subjects are prone to iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), and that the HbA1c levels of subjects with IDA are falsely high. In the present study, the HbA1c and GA levels of gastrectomized subjects with IDA were compared with gastrectomized subjects without anemia. Seven non-diabetic gastrectomized subjects with IDA were enrolled in the present study. Twenty-eight non-diabetic gastrectomized subjects without anemia matched with the subjects with IDA in terms of age, gender, and body mass index were used as the controls. Although there were no significant differences in fasting plasma glucose and OGTT 2-hour plasma glucose (2-h PG) between the two groups, the HbA1c and GA levels in gastrectomized subjects with IDA were significantly higher than the controls. For all of the gastrectomized subjects (n=35), ferritin exhibited a significant negative correlation with HbA1c and GA, and a significant positive correlation with 2-h PG. In addition, the HbA1c and GA levels exhibited a significant negative correlation with the mean corpuscular hemoglobin and hemoglobin. The HbA1c and GA levels in gastrectomized subjects with IDA were significantly higher than those in controls. The high GA levels are attributed to a tendency in which patients with total gastrectomy, who are prone to IDA, are susceptible to postprandial hyperglycemia and reactive hypoglycemia, which in turn leads to large fluctuations in plasma glucose.
Keywords: Gastrectomy; Glycated albumin; HbA1c; Iron deficiency anemia; Oxyhyperglycemia.
© 2017 by the Association of Clinical Scientists, Inc.