Glycosilated hemoglobin in chronic hyperglycemia diagnostic

Since 1980 glycosilated hemoglobin (GHb), has proved its usefulness as a marker for chronic hyperglycemia and diabetes. We have investigated the postmortem range values of GHb from femoral vein blood in 100 randomly selected cases. We have tried to determine associations between postmortem interval, cause of death, preexistent pancreatic pathology and ante-mortem values of blood glucose. Our results confirm that GHb levels are not significantly influenced by PMI up to 72 hours. There is a strong positive correlation between the presence and severity of pancreatic histological abnormalities and high values of GHb. Although in some specific causes of death (myocardial infarction, politraumas) the values were higher than expected, we consider that blood glucose levels over 200 mg/d1 associated with GHb over 12% could be suggestive of an ante mortem hyperglycemic state.