Automation of low cost fructosamine assay; evaluation of the laboratory performance and clinical usefullness

SUMMARY AUTOMATION OF A LOW COST FRUCTOSAMİNE ASSAY; EVALUATION THE LABORATORY PERFORMANCE AND CLİNİCAL USEFULLNESS. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder which causes destruction and failure of organs and systems in long term. Early diagnosis and strict hyperglicemia therapy of DM decreases mortality and morbidity of diabetic patients. Clinical chemistry tests are important for diagnosing and monitoring therapy in DM. Fructosamine which reflects nonenzymatic glycation of serum proteins is a usefull test to evaluate short-term glisemic control. The aim of this study was to optimise and automate a low cost fructosamine assay and then to investigate the relationship between long-term complications. Serum fructosamine was measured by nitrobluetetrazohum method in non-diabetic controls (n=146) with a mean age of 60±20 and diabetic subjects (n=353) with a mean age of 61±ll.The within-day imprecision and between day imprecision of the automated method were %0,7 (n=10) and %2,5 (n=10), respectively. Mean fructosamine concentration were significantly increased in DM (342± 74 umol/L) compared with control group (270±47 umol/L) (p<0,05). This cross-sectional study suggested that fructosamine concentration was not related to long-term complications of DM (p>0,05). However, since it is highly correlated with HbAlc (r=0,817, p<0,05), fractosamine test may be a useful laboratory parameter for monitoring glycemia also being an inexpensive, appropriate for automation and relativly simple test. Key words: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, nonenzymatic glycation, glycemic control, glycated serum proteins, fructosamine.