Saturday, August 4, 2012

The A1C

What is the A1C test?

The A1C test is the best way to measure how controlled someone's diabetes is. It measures an average of Glygated Hemoglobin in the blood. Glygated Hemoglobin is the product after hemoglobin in the blood has combined with glucose. Since on average, blood cells last for 3 months, this gives an average level of glucose in the blood over the previous 3 months. It is now regarded as an excellent means of measure diabetes control.

My sons A1C in June was 13%. This is very high. It means that the average amount of blood sugar over the previous 3 months was 18 mmol/L.

In early March his blood sugar was measured at 5 mmol/L. (I saw that in his file - the doctor showed me).
And when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes less than 3 months later, his blood sugar was 25mmol/L.

In a non diabetic person, the normal blood sugar level would be between 4 and 6 mmol/L  The A1C would be around 5 to 6%.

In a diabetic with their blood sugar under control, the aim is to get your A1C down to 7%.

Last week, my husband (who has Type 2 diabetes but is also on insulin) told me that his A1C was 6% - which means he is keeping his diabetes under very good control.

My sons first post-diagnosis clinic is set for August 30, so we will get a new A1C number at that time. I hope it will it will be at least below 10%.  But if it's not then I will just have to try harder to keep my sons diabetes and blood sugar levels under better control.


No comments:

Post a Comment