IntroductionHaemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is widely used in the management of diabetes. Therefore, the reliability and comparability among different analytical methods for its detection have become very important.Materials and methodsA comparative evaluation of the analytical performances (precision, linearity, accuracy, method comparison, and interferences including bilirubin, triglyceride, cholesterol, labile HbA1c (LA1c), vitamin C, aspirin, fetal haemoglobin (HbF), and haemoglobin E (Hb E)) were performed on Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing (Capillarys 2FP) (Sebia, France), Tosoh HLC-723 G8 (Tosoh G8) (Tosoh, Japan), Premier Hb9210 (Trinity Biotech, Ireland) and Roche Cobas c501 (Roche c501) (Roche Diagnostics, Germany).ResultsA good precision was shown at both low and high HbA1c levels on all four systems, with all individual CVs below 2% (IFCC units) or 1.5% (NGSP units). Linearity analysis for each analyzer had achieved a good correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.99) over the entire range tested. The analytical bias of the four systems against the IFCC targets was less than ± 6% (NGSP units), indicating a good accuracy. Method comparison showed a great correlation and agreement between methods. Very high levels of triglycerides and cholesterol (≥ 15.28 and ≥ 8.72 mmol/L, respectively) led to falsely low HbA1c concentrations on Roche c501. Elevated HbF induced false HbA1c detection on Capillarys 2FP (> 10%), Tosoh G8 (> 30%), Premier Hb9210 (> 15%), and Roche c501 (> 5%). On Tosoh G8, HbE induced an extra peak on chromatogram, and significantly lower results were reported.ConclusionsThe four HbA1c methods commonly used with commercial analyzers showed a good reliability and comparability, although some interference may falsely alter the result.