What is being tested?The fructosamine test is a measurement of glycated
protein. When glucose levels in the blood are elevated over a period of time, glucose molecules permanently combine with proteins in the blood in a process called glycation. Affected proteins include albumin, the principal protein in the blood, other serum proteins, and hemoglobin, the protein found inside red blood cells (RBCs). The more glucose that is present in the blood, the greater the amount of glycated protein and hemoglobin formed. These combined molecules persist for the life of the protein or RBC and provide a record of the average amount of glucose that has been present in the blood over that time period.
Since RBCs live for about 120 days, glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C) represents average blood glucose levels over the past 2 to 3 months. Serum proteins have a shorter lifespan, about 14 to 21 days, so glycated proteins, and the fructosamine test, reflect average glucose levels over a 2 to 3 week time period.
Keeping blood glucose levels as close as possible to normal helps diabetic patients to avoid many of the complications and progressive damage associated with elevated glucose levels. Good diabetic control is achieved and maintained by daily (or even more frequent) self-monitoring of glucose levels and by occasional monitoring of the effectiveness of treatment using either a fructosamine or A1C test.
