Evaluation of an affinity chromatographic procedure for the determination of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1).

An affinity chromatographic method for the determination of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1) was evaluated. The procedure was shown to be precise, the within- and between-assay coefficients of variation being less than 5%. It was also shown to correlate well with electrophoresis (r = 0.968) and ion-exchange chromatography (r = 0.916). An inverse relationship was shown to exist between increasing temperature and HbA1 levels measured by affinity chromatography. A statistically significant difference was found for samples run at 20 degrees C and 25 degrees C respectively, suggesting that the method should be run in a temperature-controlled environment. The affinity procedure was also shown not to be affected by the type of anticoagulant, the concentration of hemoglobin in the hemolysate, and acetylation.