Use of HbA_1c in screening for Cuban-Americans with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes

This study evaluated the use of HbA_1c as a screening tool for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥7.0 mmol/l) in a sample of Cuban-Americans aged ≥ 30 years old. Subjects were randomly recruited from Miami-Dade and Broward counties, FL. Fasting plasma glucose was measured by hexokinase enzymatic method. HbA_1c was measured by the DCA2000 + system using the monoclonal antibody method. HbA_1c demonstrated a high predictive value in detecting undiagnosed diabetes. The area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was 0.87. Also, HbA_1c had high sensitivity and specificity when using a cut off value of 6.37 (71 and 86%, respectively). Moderate sensitivity and very high specificity were shown with a cut off value of 6.84 (57 and 96%, respectively). HbA_1c is a reliable alternative to fasting plasma glucose in screening for undiagnosed diabetes in Cuban-Americans.