Total glycated haemoglobin (GHb)

Total Glycated hemoglobin

• defined as hemoglobin with glucose bound to any of these potential sites
  • HbA1c is a subset of glycated hemoglobins. It is defined as hemoglobin with glucose bound at the beginning (N-terminal) of the ß-chain
    
    
  • total glycated hemoglobin (total GHb) will include HbA1c plus all the other hemoglobins (including haemoglobin variants) that have glucose bound to lysine side chains and/or to the N-terminal of the alpha-chain
    • HbA1c is the major subfraction of the glycated normal hemoglobin (HbA1)
      
      
  • generally about half of the glucose is bound to the HbA1c position with the other half bound at 3 or 4 other sites (lysines)
    

Reference interval:

• Diabetes > =9.0%
• Risk of diabetes 7.3 to 9%
• Healthy adult: 3.9% to 7.3%

Note that reference ranges may vary between laboratories and based on the assays used.