How is a1c measured

And it's used to monitor how well your diabetes treatment is working over time. It's also a critical step in forming your game plan to manage diabetes with your diabetes care team. This relatively simple blood test can tell you a lot.

The test results give you a picture of your average blood sugar level over the past two to three months. The higher the levels, the greater your risk of developing diabetes complications.

If you're not meeting your goals or you change treatments, you may need to get an A1C test more often. The higher the A1C value, the more glucose there is on the hemoglobin. So higher A1C levels typically correlate with higher circulating blood glucose levels. This is what would typically be expected for someone who does not have diabetes. If your body becomes less efficient at moving glucose into your cells to be used for energy, or insulin resistant , then levels may increase from 5.

Those with levels from 6. Your healthcare provider can advise you on an individualized A1C goal that takes into consideration factors such as:. There are some conditions that can affect A1C levels, which your healthcare professional will be aware of, including anemia and sickle cell disease.

A1C results are not good or bad, they are information. Living with diabetes brings many challenges, and some aspects of controlling blood glucose can be out of your control, such as pain from an injury, stress, not being able to eat on time, and more. When it comes to diabetes self-management, the more information you have, the better.

Although an A1C level gives you a sense of average glucose levels over the past few months, a person with type 1 or type 2 diabetes needs a blood glucose meter to check blood sugar and make treatment decisions on a day-to-day basis.

If you test often during the day — like before and after meals and other times that your blood sugar can vary — and use an accurate glucose meter , this can give you valuable information on daily variations in blood sugar levels. Many blood glucose meters are also equipped to provide 7, 14, 30, or day averages.

Lower or higher targets may be appropriate for some people. If your A1C level is above your target, your doctor may recommend an adjustment in your diabetes treatment plan. A part of your treatment plan will include self-monitoring at home with a blood glucose meter or other device. Your health care team will direct you on how often and when you should test your blood sugar. The measurement shows your blood sugar level at the time you do the test. Therefore, there is some variability throughout the day based on eating, exercise, stress and other factors.

Self-monitoring helps you make choices about diet and exercise and daily treatment goals, but it also helps you track whether you are meeting your A1C target. The most common form of the oxygen-transporting hemoglobin protein is called hemoglobin A. The presence of other variants of the protein may result in inaccurate A1C test results. Hemoglobin variants are more common among people of African, Mediterranean or Southeast Asian descent. If you have a hemoglobin variant, your test may need to be sent to a specialized lab or you may need a different test for diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes.

Explore Mayo Clinic studies of tests and procedures to help prevent, detect, treat or manage conditions. So even if you have a high fasting blood sugar, your overall blood sugar may be normal, or vice versa. A normal fasting blood sugar may not eliminate the possibility of type 2 diabetes.

This is why A1C tests are now being used for the diagnosis and screening of prediabetes and diabetes. Other names for the test include the glycosylated hemoglobin test, glycohemoglobin test, glycated hemoglobin test, or A1C. A1C measures the amount of hemoglobin in the blood that has glucose attached to it. Hemoglobin is a protein found inside red blood cells that carries oxygen to the body. Hemoglobin cells are constantly dying and regenerating.

Their lifespan is approximately 3 months. Glucose attaches glycates to hemoglobin, so the record of how much glucose is attached to your hemoglobin also lasts for about 3 months. If the amount of glucose is normal, your A1C will be normal.

Someone without diabetes will have about 5 percent of their hemoglobin glycated. A normal A1C level is 5. A level of 5. People with diabetes have an A1C level of 6. The American Diabetes Association provides a calculator that shows how A1C levels correlate to glucose levels. To monitor overall glucose control, people with diabetes should have an A1C test at least twice a year.

The test is effective because of the lifespan of the hemoglobin cells. The glucose that was attached to the hemoglobin during the past 3 months will still be recorded by the test, since the cells live for approximately 3 months. The A1C test provides an average of your blood sugar readings for the past 3 months.

In the past, many different types of A1C tests gave different results depending on the lab that analyzed them.