Carbamylated haemoglobin in normal, diabetic and uraemic patients.

Carbamylated haemoglobin arises from the non-enzymic modification of haemoglobin monomers by isocyanate derived from the spontaneous dissociation of urea. We measured carbamylated haemoglobin by high performance liquid chromatography in healthy subjects, non-uraemic hospital patients, diabetics, and different groups of uraemic patients. Carbamylated haemoglobin levels were found to be raised in uraemic subjects, but were independent of age, sex, glycaemic state and haemodialysis procedure. There was no significant difference in carbamylated haemoglobin levels between two groups of patients having different modes of dialysis treatment, probably indicating a similar degree of uraemic exposure in these patients.