Know The HEALTH FACTS ... Because WEALTH THRU PERSONAL HEALTH is a COMMITMENT... NOT A CHOICE!
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I have to write about this new guideline in interpreting A1c for my Diabetic Patients who have been loyal followers of this website. Or to those who are not used to doing home glucose monitoring and rely solely on A1c results in their blood test to check if their control is good or not. Although I am not advocating to do away with monitoring…in fact I strongly advise all diabetics to do so!
Recently a new calculation was made to correlate A1c to average blood glucose levels. Now there is a computation one can do and based on data from continuous home glucose monitoring, the correlation is now better than what it used to be.
This is a new information I gathered from the American Association of Diabetes Glucose Control Trials from the ADA News as reported in Diabetes in Control:
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Prior to this new information, the A1c was tied to the results of the DCCT, where a 6% was equal to 135mg/dL. This came about when they checked the A1c and then looked at a couple of thousand finger sticks and averaged them out. Now with the use of hundreds of thousands of readings, not just with the finger sticks but also with the use of continuous blood glucose monitors, we have more accurate results. The equation yields a linear correlation over a wide range of A1c. This means that a 6% is no longer an average of 135mg/dL: The new numbers:
o 6% = 126 mg/dl
o 7% = 155 mg/dl
o 8% = 182 mg/dl
o 9% = 211 mg/dl
o 10% = 239 mg/dl
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So for all patients who wonder what this A1c means…now this new information will help you decide what to do to your lifestyle especially if you go beyond the A1c of 6.5% that we recommend to help prevent the onset of complications.
Remember a single blood sugar alone does not give you the whole picture…so if your physician keeps on checking just a Fasting blood sugar and tells you you’re doing fine…demand for an A1c level!
That Health Rules 
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