Clinical usefulness of estimation of serum fructosamine concentration as a screening test for diabetes mellitus.

Fructosamine, a putative measure of serum glycosylated proteins, was measured in 74 subjects referred for oral glucose tolerance tests. A normal range (mean (2 SD] of 1.6 (0.4) mmol/l (40(10) mg/100 ml) derive from results obtained in 83 healthy non-diabetic volunteers permitted the detection of 15 out of 17 (88%) subjects with proved diabetes and yielded only five (9%) false positive diagnoses. Fructosamine concentrations correlated significantly (p less than 0.001) with fasting plasma glucose concentrations (r = 0.76) and glycosylated haemoglobin concentrations (r = 0.70). A longitudinal study suggested that fructosamine concentration was an index of intermediate term (one to three weeks) blood glucose control. Fructosamine concentration was not related to uraemia and did not depend on albumin or total protein concentrations, provided that serum albumin concentrations remained above 30 g/l. Estimation of fructosamine concentrations is a fully automated procedure and may provide a simple means of screening for diabetes mellitus.