Diabetes Management News and Views

Are you looking to upgrade your point of care system for HbA1c? Afinion™ is simple, fast and reliable.

Following a software upgrade, Afinion™ from Axis-Shield now has dual reporting for HbA1c! Afinion™ is the only near patient instrument on the market that can display DCCT (%), IFCC (mmol/mol) AND eAG (estimated average glucose) values all on one screen.

We know that simply inviting groups of high-risk patients (including black African and Caribbean men and white working class men) isn’t enough. Some of your target group will regard themselves as healthy, so they’ll see it as a waste of time – particularly if it means they have to lose pay for an hour off work!

Individuals with diabetes are required to attend a review at least twice a year to assess the results of various tests and to see how new treatment schedules have affected their condition.

NHS Lambeth was excited by the potential to reach out into their community with the NHS Health Check, but they knew they would have to work hard to encourage attendance. They turned to Axis-Shield for help.

We thought that this new paper was so important that we should share it with you immediately.
This 15 year study based on 11,092 black and white, non diabetic adults concluded: “glycated haemoglobin was similarly associated with risk of diabetes and more strongly associated with risks of cardiovascular disease and death from any cause as compared [...]

Expert opinion is moving towards using HbA1c as the diagnostic marker for diabetes1. Whilst not going that far yet the NHS Vascular Risk Assessment programme is saying that for patients with a BMI of 30 or greater (27.5 for some Asian groups), diabetes should be investigated with EITHER a fasting plasma glucose or an HbA1c.
One of [...]

During November and December 2008 a pilot study was conducted with Heart of Birmingham PCT to assess the feasibility and value of performing HbA1c testing within the community. In order to conduct the pilot two HbA1c analysers were used and assessed: the Axis-Shield Afinion instrument and the Siemens DCA Vantage.
To read the full report of the pilot study, please click [...]

Measuring HbA1c in patients with diabetes has become an accepted and important method for accurately assessing long-term glucose control.
For a detailed summary of why it has become so important in reducing the complications associated with diabetes, please visit our website: Why measure HbA1c?

Find out more about the Afinion Analyser