Estimation of the Hemoglobin Glycation Rate Constant Based on the Mean Glycemia in Patients with Diabetes

Glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) has been the gold standard index of the metabolic control in the diabetes treatment for 30 years. The goal of this study was to estimate the overall glycation rate constant (

k

) in a simple mathematical model of HbA1c formation for patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes based on the mean glycemia calculated using the continuous glucose monitoring data. The study group consisted of 10 participants including 5 patients with type 1 diabetes (1 women and 4 men aged 50 ± 19 years) and 5 patients with type 2 diabetes (3 women and 2 men aged 57 ± 10 years) with stable glycemic control. The mean

k

in the whole study group was equal to 1.37 ± 0.25 x 10

− 9

L/(mmol s). The mean

k

values calculated separately for patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes were equal to 1.40 ± 0.30 x 10

− 9

L/(mmol s) and 1.34 ± 0.21 x 10

− 9

L/(mmol s), respectively (p = 0.60). The obtained results show that the hemoglobin glycation rate constant in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes with stable metabolic control is close to the value of this parameter in non-diabetic volunteers. However, a higher inter-subject variability of

k

estimated in patients with diabetes suggests that some additional factors might influence a pace of HbA1c formation that are not present in the simplistic model that was studied.