Fructosamine

Fructosamine is found in the plasma of both normal and diabetic individuals. “Fructosamine” is the term used to describe proteins that have been glycated (ie, are derivatives of the nonenzymatic reaction product of glucose and albumin). It has been advocated as an alternative test to hemoglobin A_1c for the monitoring of long-term diabetic control. Fructosamine and hemoglobin A_1c do not measure exactly the same thing, since fructosamine has a shorter half-life and appears to be more sensitive to short-term variations in glucose levels; however, this is not necessarily a disadvantage. Fructosamine is clearly superior in patients with abnormal hemoglobins because of the interference of abnormal hemoglobins in the anion-exchange chromatography methods for Hb A_1c. Published reference interval for apparently healthy subjects between age 20 and 60 is 205−285 μmol/L and in a poorly-controlled diabetic population is 228−563 μmol/L with a mean of 396 μmol/L.