Glucose and HbA1c discrepancy in HIV. version 1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Is there a discrepancy between plasma and interstitial fluid glucose and HbA1c in people living with HIV?

  • IRAS ID

    254409

  • Contact name

    Harriet Daultrey

  • Contact email

    harriet.daultrey@bsuh.nhs.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    NHS

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 3 months, 4 days

  • Research summary

    We know that people living with HIV are at a higher risk of developing diabetes than people living without HIV. Diabetes is a serious, lifelong condition where the blood glucose (sugar) level is too high. Over a long period of time, high glucose levels in your blood can cause damage to your heart, eyes, feet, kidneys and other organs. By making a diagnosis of diabetes early, the right treatment can be started to keep blood glucose levels lower. Lower blood glucose levels reduce the risk of damage to organs.

    To keep a check on blood glucose levels for people with diabetes, a special blood test is done. This blood test is called ‘HbA1c’. HbA1c is a measure of average blood glucose levels over the last 2-3 months. HbA1c can also be used to diagnose diabetes. A high HbA1c means too much glucose has been in the blood.

    There is some research that shows that HbA1c in people with HIV is falsely low. This means, that if someone living with HIV has high blood glucose levels, their HbA1c might come back as falsely low, even though we would expect it to be high. If the HbA1c is falsely low, we could be missing out on diagnosing diabetes early and putting someone at risk of damaging their health.

    We plan, as part of this study, to see if measuring an HbA1c in people living with HIV is an accurate test for diagnosing and monitoring diabetes in this population. We plan to test people with HIV who also have diabetes as well as people with HIV who do not have diabetes and will compare to a population of people without HIV.

    This research could help us tailor our diagnosis and management of diabetes in people living with HIV.

  • REC name

    London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    19/LO/0172

  • Date of REC Opinion

    25 Jan 2019

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion