During a 6 month period last year, over 6.6 million diabetes tests were missed, including 5.2 million diagnostic and 1.4 million monitoring HbA1c tests, revealed a retrospective study presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) virtual meeting. 

According to the analysis, these data represent around 690,000 missed pre-diabetes and 68,500 missed diabetes diagnoses (largely type 2 diabetes), with subsequent delay in lifestyle advice and treatment. Of those who missed HbA1c monitoring, the analysis estimates that over 500,000 individuals would have had raised levels of HbA1c.

The number of missed HbA1c tests were estimated during the COVID Impact Period from March 23, 2020 through September 30, 2020. Data on HbA1c were obtained from six UK testing laboratories which represented 6% of the total UK population… (Medscape)