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Diabetes in Children: Convenient Blood Test Not Effective Enough
for Diagnosis Doctors are increasingly using a convenient blood
glucose test for diagnosing diabetes and pre-diabetes, but a
study by the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's
Hospital shows it's not the best way to diagnose diabetes in
children. The hemoglobin A1c test has become the preferred way
to diagnose diabetes among the millions of Americans who have
diabetes but show no symptoms. The simple test measures longer-
term blood sugar levels – without requiring patients to fast
overnight. But U-M researchers say more study is needed before
doctors can safely rely on using hemoglobin A1c for children.
"We found that hemoglobin A1c is not as reliable a test for
identifying children with diabetes and pre-diabetes compared
with adults," says study lead author Doctor Joyce M. Lee, a
paediatric endocrinologist at Mott Children's Hospital. "Using
this test in children may lead to