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Postal methods for monitoring HbA1c in diabetes mellitus: a protocol for systematic review

Postal methods for monitoring HbA1c in diabetes mellitus: a protocol for systematic review
Postal methods for monitoring HbA1c in diabetes mellitus: a protocol for systematic review
Background Worldwide there are an estimated 463 million people with diabetes. In the UK people with diabetes are offered annual review, which includes monitoring of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). This can identify people with diabetes who are not meeting their glycaemic targets, enabling early intervention. Those who do not attend these reviews often have poorer health outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a 77% reduction in monitoring of HbA1c in the UK.

Aim It is hypothesised that people with diabetes could take finger-prick samples at home for measurement of HbA1c. This study will examine the agreement and correlation of capillary HbA1c values compared with a venous reference standard. It will explore reliability and repeatability of capillary HbA1c testing methods, as well as the direction of effect of storage variables. The study will also explore patient acceptability and safety. It will look at capillary blood methods that would be suitable for posting.

Design & setting A systematic review will be undertaken.

Method The core terms of ‘Diabetes’, ‘HbA1c’ and ‘Capillary sampling’ will be used to search MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Science Core Collection, Google Scholar, OpenGrey, and other grey literature, from database inception until 2021. Risk of bias will be assessed using the ‘COSMIN Risk of Bias tool to assess the quality of studies on reliability and measurement error’.

Conclusion A narrative synthesis will be produced to explore whether there are viable postal alternatives to venous sampling, as well as exploring acceptability and safety of patient self-collection.
Colley, Jack Joseph
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Dambha-Miller, Hajira
58961db5-31aa-460e-9394-08590c4b7ba1
Stuart, Beth
626862fc-892b-4f6d-9cbb-7a8d7172b209
Bartholomew, Jazz Louisa
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Price, Hermione
2d0a0ee9-39fe-4723-92c9-bacfe2dffc94
Colley, Jack Joseph
970f42c8-e72d-4a97-9063-71d84c55696f
Dambha-Miller, Hajira
58961db5-31aa-460e-9394-08590c4b7ba1
Stuart, Beth
626862fc-892b-4f6d-9cbb-7a8d7172b209
Bartholomew, Jazz Louisa
98abf7b0-5130-4e3e-9153-238c6a9d740f
Price, Hermione
2d0a0ee9-39fe-4723-92c9-bacfe2dffc94

Colley, Jack Joseph, Dambha-Miller, Hajira, Stuart, Beth, Bartholomew, Jazz Louisa and Price, Hermione (2022) Postal methods for monitoring HbA1c in diabetes mellitus: a protocol for systematic review. BJGP Open, 6 (4). (doi:10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0240).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background Worldwide there are an estimated 463 million people with diabetes. In the UK people with diabetes are offered annual review, which includes monitoring of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). This can identify people with diabetes who are not meeting their glycaemic targets, enabling early intervention. Those who do not attend these reviews often have poorer health outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a 77% reduction in monitoring of HbA1c in the UK.

Aim It is hypothesised that people with diabetes could take finger-prick samples at home for measurement of HbA1c. This study will examine the agreement and correlation of capillary HbA1c values compared with a venous reference standard. It will explore reliability and repeatability of capillary HbA1c testing methods, as well as the direction of effect of storage variables. The study will also explore patient acceptability and safety. It will look at capillary blood methods that would be suitable for posting.

Design & setting A systematic review will be undertaken.

Method The core terms of ‘Diabetes’, ‘HbA1c’ and ‘Capillary sampling’ will be used to search MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Science Core Collection, Google Scholar, OpenGrey, and other grey literature, from database inception until 2021. Risk of bias will be assessed using the ‘COSMIN Risk of Bias tool to assess the quality of studies on reliability and measurement error’.

Conclusion A narrative synthesis will be produced to explore whether there are viable postal alternatives to venous sampling, as well as exploring acceptability and safety of patient self-collection.

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Accepted/In Press date: 20 June 2022
Published date: 7 September 2022

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 476157
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/476157
PURE UUID: 880be6e1-e003-42cc-8f12-7246023a4d21
ORCID for Hajira Dambha-Miller: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0175-443X
ORCID for Beth Stuart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5432-7437

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Apr 2023 16:56
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:54

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Contributors

Author: Jack Joseph Colley
Author: Beth Stuart ORCID iD
Author: Jazz Louisa Bartholomew
Author: Hermione Price

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