Multicenter cross-sectional analysis of values of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in Polish children and adolescents with long-term type 1 diabetes in Poland: PolPeDiab study group.

INTRODUCTION: Glycated haemoglobin is currently a golden standard of evaluation of metabolic control of diabetes. According to the Evidence based Medicine data, better metabolic control of diabetes decreases the prevalence of chronic complications. AIM OF THE STUDY: to analyse HbA1c in children with a longer duration of type 1 diabetes mellitus (t1DM). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analysed an epidemiological database (2006-2009) of 7783 HbA1c values of 996 children (465 girls) with t1DM treated at three academic centres (Gdansk, Łodź, Katowice) in Poland. the mean age was 13.04±3.43 years and the mean duration of diabetes was 6.93±2.33 years. RESULTS: the overall mean HbA1c was 7.6±1.5% (by age groups: 7.0±0.8%, 2-5 yrs; 7.1±1.0%, 6-10 yrs; 7.8±1.7%, 11-19 yrs) without gender-related differences. HbA1c increased significantly with increasing age and t1DM duration. HbA1c values differed significantly between the centres. A group of 455 (55.7%) children reached a stable course of diabetes with HbA1c 9%. The mean HbA1c ?6.5% was found in 150 children (18.4%). CONCLUSIONS: In more than 50% of Polish children with longer t1DM duration, the international target of glycaemic control (HbA1c) is achieved; however, only 18% of them reached Polish national target. Age, t1DM duration and centre-specific factors influence the HbA1c values.