Abstract: Background – Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is an established method for diagnosing diabetes mellitus (DM) in cats, and DM and prediabetes in people. A previous study established a reference interval (RI) for a novel dried-blood spot HbA1c assay (A1Care, Baycom Diagnostics) in a small population of cats but did not assess potential stratification based on patient demographics (age, sex, body weight [BW], body condition score [BCS]) despite previous evidence that in cats, glucose metabolism differs between males and females and between underweight and overweight cats.
Objective – To establish a robust RI for A1Care (A1CareRI), and assess the need for A1CareRI stratification based on patient demographics.
Methods – Complete blood counts and biochemistry panels were performed in all cats. A1CareRI was calculated according to ASVCP recommendations. Normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test and nonparametric tests were used when appropriate.
Results – A1CareRI was 2.0 – 4.5%. Correlations between A1Care and age (P = 0.3), BW (P = 0.2), or BCS (P = 0.8) were not significant, and no significant difference was detected between males (n = 89) and females (n = 74; P = 0.3). There was a weak negative correlation between packed cell volume and A1Care (r = -0.24 [95% Cl -0.37 to -0.05], P = 0.003).
Conclusions and Clinical Importance – The results suggest that stratification of A1CareRI based on patient demographics is not necessary in cats and complement the previously published RI.
