In 1958, Huisman and Meyering employed chromatographic techniques to isolate hemoglobin A1C from other hemoglobin variants (1). Key achievements in A1C testing to date are summarized below.
Samuel Rahbar initially reported the association between its elevation in diabetes in 1969 (2).
Anthony Cerami, Ronald Koenig, and their team suggested in 1976 using hemoglobin A1C as a marker for monitoring glucose metabolism control in diabetic patients (3).
Commercially available laboratory-based hemoglobin A1C testing became available in 1978.
Point-of-care (POC) hemoglobin A1C testing became available in the 1990s and usage has increased over the last decade.
A committee of international experts recommended A1C testing be used as widely as possible to diagnose diabetes instead of the blood sugar test at the American Diabetes Association’s 69th Scientific Sessions in 2009. (4)
Today, the test is a critical component for diabetes diagnosis, treatment and management (5).