1. Kaiser Regional Laboratory, Clackamas, OR 97015, USA
2. Pathology Department, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR 97201, USA

Blood samples from diabetic and non-diabetic cases were assayed for HbA_1c with the Biorad Variant^TM ion exchange HPLC system using the procedure recommended by the manufacturer. The reference range for non-diabetics is up to 6%. Diabetics with values less than 8% are considered to be in good control. The results from 13 diabetics were mean 8.9%, range 6.2-12.1 and for 16 non-diabetics mean 5.4%, range 4.5-6.4.

One of the diabetics was a gestational diabetic who died unexpectedly within a few days of delivery. Her HbA_1c was 7.1%. In addition to these cases there were three more that apparently died in DKA and had not been previously diagnosed as diabetic. The HbA_1c values were12.2, 12.6 and 13.8%. Other results were consistent with DKA at the time of death: vitreous glucose was greater than 600 mg/dL in all three and two of the three cases had high blood acetone levels.

For another four cases HbA_1c could not be measured due either to the presence of variant hemoglobins or to the presence of unusual or unresolved peaks. Sample degradation may be responsible for some of these problems.