HbA1C - overall glycemia marker and hemolytic anemia indicator.

Glycated hemoglobin A1C reflects a mean glycemia over the preceding 3 months (erythrocyte life span). In diabetes management, target value is set below 6.5%, to reduce the risk of chronic complications. However, there are different conditions that lead to a shortened lifespan of erythrocytes, resulting in falsely low HbA1C value. Case presented involves a 72-year-old patient with history of diabetes and possible iatrogenic-induced autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Thus, HbA1C may be a screening test for hemolysis in non-diabetic patients with hemolytic anemia, but in diabetic population with hemolytic disease it is considered to be a very poor marker for both, overall glycemia and haemolysis.