HbA1c Predicts Incident Diabetes

OBJECTIVE: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a standard measure of chronic glycemia for managing diabetes, has been proposed to diagnose diabetes and identify people at risk. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was a 3.2-year randomized clinical trial of preventing type 2 diabetes with a 10-year follow-up study, the DPP Outcomes Study (DPPOS). We evaluated baseline HbA_1c as a predictor of diabetes and determined the effects of treatments on diabetes defined by an HbA1c ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol).

CONCLUSIONS: HbA1c predicted incident diabetes. In contrast to the superiority of the lifestyle intervention on glucose-defined diabetes, metformin and lifestyle interventions had similar effects in preventing HbA_1c-defined diabetes. The long-term implications for other health outcomes remain to be determined.

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