Racial and ethnic differences in HbA1c have been recognized for many years.

The objective of this study is to find out the correlation between HbA1C and mean glucose levels in children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus from Eastern India.

Thirty patients who aged 4–18 years with type 1 diabetes mellitus were included. Ambulatory glucose profile(AGP) was obtained with Abbott Freestyle Libre Pro over 2 weeks and was followed by 5 point CBG monitoring done by glucose meter (pre-breakfast, 2 h post breakfast, 2 h post lunch, pre-dinner, 2 h post dinner) for the next 2 weeks. The same protocol repeated for the 2 subsequent months to obtain average glucose levels for a 12 week period. HbA1C was tested at the end of the 12 week period by HPLC method. The relationship between HbA1C and mean blood glucose was determined by Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

The coefficient of correlation was 0.923 for average glucose and HbA1c in study which was 0.922 in ADAG study. We found that at lower glucose levels Indian patients had low HbA1c levels compared to ADAG study group while the opposite was seen at higher glucose levels.

Although the correlation between HbA1C and average glucose is similar between Indians and ADAG study population, the average blood glucose level for a given HbA1c is significantly different between them.