Diabetes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Diabetes - Research Paper Example The A1C Diagnostic Tool The testing of diabetes has long been faced with a myriad of challenges that include insufficient diagnosis of the disease. Several diabetes diagnostic tests have been developed over the years but all of them are not accurate as the Haemoglobin A1C level test. The A1C test is undertaken to test the amount of sugar present in the red blood cells. The test looks into the average blood glucose levels in patient’s body for a period of two to three months. The A1C test uses an averaging system whereby a patient’s blood glucose levels are tested based on a percentage system (Cunha-vaz, 2011). Diabetes tests conducted using the A1C diagnostic testing tools have been very accurate in estimating blood sugar levels of a patient over a long period of time. Compared to other tests, the A1C test does not require a patient to fast without food for periods of time since the test can be conducted at any time (Ford-Martin, 2004). A1C Research Tests A research was conducted to test the effectiveness of the A1C diagnosis test in South Korea over a period of 6 years. The test was conducted to find out the best levels for haemoglobin A1C level for different diabetes patients this included patients belonging to different races. The research targeted a total of 10,038 participants were included in this research and they first underwent a 75-g oral glucose test tolerance test at baseline with two year follow up. Among the research participants, 572 of them had a previous history of having diabetes (Ford-Martin, 2004). From the results a receiver operating characteristic curve was used to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of the A1C cut-off. The results established that at the baseline 635 participants representing 6.8% had previously undiagnosed diabetes. An A1C cut-off of 5.9% produced the highest sum of sensitivity at 68% and specificity (91%). At the end of the research, after 6 years 895 (10.2%) participants had developed diabetes. An A1C cut-o ff of 5.6% had the highest sum of sensitivity (59%) and specificity (77%) in the identification of consequent 6-year incident diabetes. After variations in adjustment it was found that men with A1C baseline of 5.6% had a 2.4 fold increased risk while women with the same baseline had a 3.1 fold increased risk of contracting diabetes in the future (Cunha-vaz, 2011). The research study was successful in concluding that patients with a 5.9% A1C cut-off identified participants with undiagnosed diabetes. The study also concluded that people with A1C equal or greater than 5.6% had increased risk of contracting diabetes in the future. Integration of A1C The research study undertaken by researchers on the agreed levels of Haemoglobin A1C test was important in determining the agreed levels of A1C suitable for diagnosing diabetes. From the research we are able to learn that doctors have found out that people with Haemoglobin A1C level of ? 5.6% have a higher risk of contracting diabetes. Due t o the accuracy of using the A1C diagnosis testing, Doctors are now able to easily detect diabetes in the body. Many researchers agree that the A1C test and research was important in coming up with a standardised A1C cut-off which was put at the level of 6.5%. The results of the South Korean research concluded that the A1C levels of 5.9% contributed to patients contracting type 2 diabetes (Cunha-vaz, 2011). While on the other hand, the same study was conducted among the Japanese population and they found out that an A1C cut-off