Background: Physiological changes during pregnancy alter biochemical parameters, including glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), making pregnancy-specific reference intervals (RIs) essential. In Ethiopia, such intervals are unavailable. This study aimed to establish HbA1c RIs for early pregnant and non-pregnant women and compare their values. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 4, 2024, to March 30, 2025, including non-diabetic pregnant and non-pregnant women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The median gestational age was 9.1 weeks. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27). Normality of continuous variables was assessed using Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Normally distributed variables are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD), while non-normally distributed variables are summarized as median with interquartile range. HbA1c values were normally distributed in both groups, so RIs were calculated using mean ± 2SD. Result: Early pregnant women had a mean HbA1c of 5.35% (SD = 0.26), corresponding to an RI of 4.83–5.87% (mean ± 2SD). Non-pregnant women showed a higher mean level of 5.63% (SD = 0.28), with an RIs of 5.07–6.19%. An independent samples t -test demonstrated a significant difference between groups (t (264) = 8.109, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Early pregnant women had lower HbA1c values than non-pregnant women, with non-pregnant women showing higher RI limits. The locally derived RIs provided a benchmark for accurate HbA1c interpretation in clinical practice and highlight the need for pregnancy-specific standards.
Kassahun et al. (Thu,) studied this question.