Point-of-care HbA1c testing with the a1cnow test kit in general practice dental clinics: A pilot study involving its accuracy and practical issues in its use

With millions of at-risk people undiagnosed with prediabetes and diabetes, there is a need to identify alternate screening sites for out-of-range glucose values. We examined practical issues and accuracy (relative to high-performance liquid chromatography testing in a laboratory) in the use of the A1cNow point-of-care device for this screening in general practice dental clinics at a large University-based dental college. Health care professionals obtained evaluable readings for only 70% of the subjects, even after 2 attempts, and its use according to manufacturer?€™s instructions was often challenging in the busy environment of the dental clinic. At thresholds for prediabetes and diabetes established by the American Diabetes Association, sensitivities of the A1cNow kit relative to the HPLC method were 91.9% and 100%, respectively. However, specificities for prediabetes and diabetes were 66.7% and 82.4%, respectively, indicating many false-positive results. A better strategy for diabetes screening may involve a laboratory-based analysis approach that is patient-friendly and provider-friendly, with minimal burden to the dental team.