Decoding HbA1c Test for Blood Sugar - Monitoring HbA1c in Diabetes

Monitoring HbA1c in Diabetes

Monitoring the HbA1c levels of a diabetic tremendously aids the patient’s treatment. By observing long-term serum glucose regulation, the effectiveness of diabetes treatment can be estimated. Nevertheless, certain important details need to be kept in mind while decoding the HbA1c values.

• While the HbA1c counter is proportionate to average blood sugar levels over the past 4 weeks to 3 months, a major portion of the final reading actually reflects only the value of at most, the past 2 – 4 weeks.
• Some people have persistently elevated blood glucose eg. patients with diabetes mellitus or whose red blood cell lifespan is longer (due to deficiency of Vitamin B12 or folate).
• Readings can also be lower than normal in patients with reduced red blood cell lifespan (due to sickle cell disease, glucose-6-phosphate, hemolytic anemia, or dehydrogenase deficiency) or any condition resulting in the premature death of RBCs.
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• There is always bound to be a mixture of old RBCs (exposed to recent and past blood glucose levels) and new RBCs (exposed to recent blood glucose levels). Therefore, it is thought that half of an HbA1c value can be attributed to the previous month, a quarter to the month preceding that and the final quarter to two months before. (3^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Use of Glycated Haemoglobin (HbA1c) in the Diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus
  
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  HbA1c and Monitoring Glycaemia
  
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