[Haemoglobin AIc in patients on venesection therapy for haemochromatosis (author's transl)].
Haemoglobin AIc values measured in diabetic patients with idiopathic haemochromatosis tended to be lower than in diabetics without haemochromatosis. The observed difference was analysed with respect to different parameters related to diabetes or haemochromatosis and their treatment (sex, age, duration of diabetes, insulin-dependency, frequency and volume of blood withdrawn) which could possibly explain these low values. Among the twenty-eight subjects with haemochromatosis, thirty-two non-diabetics, twenty-six insulin-dependent diabetics, and twenty-four non-insulin-treated diabetics, we observed that the more frequently venesection therapy was performed, the lower the levels of haemoglobin HbAIc, HbAIa+b tended to be. Thus, the decreased HbAIc rates observed in haemochromatosis patients may be ascribed to the venesection therapy, which induces an increased turnover of red cells, and consequently a decrease of the time available for their glycosylation.