Usefulness of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) to screen for diabetes in patients with schizophrenia.

Generally, assessment of fasting glucose is recommended as screening and monitoring for diabetes (ADA/APA consensus, 2004) although an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) remains the gold standard (Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus, 2003). HbA1c is accepted as a useful index of mean blood glucose levels in the treatment of patients with diabetes but was not selected by the expert committee as a means for screening (Expert committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus, 2003; Kilpatrick et al., 1998; Mulkerin et al., 1992; Rohlfmg et al., 2000).