Abstract: Background – Serum fructosamine concentration (SF) is used for diagnosis and monitoring of feline diabetes mellitus, but a reference interval (RI) for SF (SFRI) was not formally established. Previous studies have shown an effect of sex, body condition (BCS), serum proteins, and thyroxine on SF.
Objective – Establish a robust SFRI and assess the need for its stratification based on patient demographics.
Methods – Health status was determined by a comprehensive history, physical exam, complete blood count, and biochemistry panels. SF was analyzed by IDEXX laboratories. The SFRI was calculated according to ASVCP recommendations. Normality was assessed using Shapiro-Wilk test and nonparametric tests were used when appropriate.
Results – The SFRI was 178 – 305 umol/L for the population. Correlations between SF and age (P = 0.67), BW (P = 0.16), and BCS (P = 0.15) were not significant. Females (n = 53) had higher SF than males (n = 66; P = 0.04) with calculated SFRIs of 180 – 311 umol/L and 177 – 291 umol/L respectively. Serum fructosamine concentrations correlated with albumin (r = 0.4 [95% Cl 0.23 – 0.54], P < 0.0001) and total bilirubin (r = 0.34 [95% Cl 0.17 – 0.49], P = 0.0002).
Conclusions and Clinical Importance – The results suggest that SFRI stratification based on sex is needed. Further studies are required to determine if the SF difference between sexes is the result of differences in glucose metabolism, proteins, or both.
