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I’m confused
- Thread starter Caz57
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The 30s/40s and 50s will be your HBA1C in mmol which is the average BS over 3 months. The 5, 6 or 7 will be your spot finger-prick reading in mmol. You should be aiming for the meter reading to be below 10 if you can. A non-diabetic will be between 5 to 7. The HBA1C reading shows diabetes if it's over 48 mmol.
The two measurements are measuring different things. There is a complicated formula that tries to equate the two but it's generally not worth it. Upto about 2010 Britain measured HbA1cs in % like they still do in America. 6.5% (48 in new money) was the cut off point for dxing diabetes. The European Medical Agency decreed that HbA1cs should be measured in the new way and being good Europeans at the time we dutifully switched over. The measures ( 48 etc) were said to be a better scientific system and had the merit of separating the two things so that if somebody scored 6% they wouldn't confuse that as being an average of their own pinprick bg readings.
P.S. if the likes of Rees Mogg find out our current measures of HbA1c are a EU Directive, we might be going back to %. Heh, Heh. The EMA is a great European Institution, officiating on medical matters. It was based in London but Brexit meant we lost it and it went to Paris. And now the NHS is hanging on the coat tails of decisions made there without a say in them.
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PerSpinasAdAstra
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Just to clarify one point about mmols:
HbA1c - the blood test that gives you average blood glucose levels over the past 3 months or so is measured in mmol/mol (millimoles per mole).
The finger prick tester reports values in mmol/L (millimoles per litre).
A mole is a unit of measurement used for counting tiny particles.
As @Burylancs said, there is a formula to convert one to the other but it's not very useful. The HbA1c test gives you an average for previous months, including the times immediately after eating where your blood glucose goes way up. The finger prick tests are typically done at times when you expect a low number, such as first thing in the morning before breakfast and just before your evening meal. This gives you an idea of your baseline blood glucose levels, and can be compared to the levels a healthy person might have in the same circumstances.
Many people also test immediately before eating and two hours later in order to measure the effect of specific foods or meals on their blood glucose levels. The purpose of this is help in planning a tailored diet to help control average blood glucose levels. This is not something I have yet tried personally - I'm happy enough to rely on medication and a generally healthier diet approach to reducing my average blood glucose levels, at least for the time being.
HbA1c - the blood test that gives you average blood glucose levels over the past 3 months or so is measured in mmol/mol (millimoles per mole).
The finger prick tester reports values in mmol/L (millimoles per litre).
A mole is a unit of measurement used for counting tiny particles.
As @Burylancs said, there is a formula to convert one to the other but it's not very useful. The HbA1c test gives you an average for previous months, including the times immediately after eating where your blood glucose goes way up. The finger prick tests are typically done at times when you expect a low number, such as first thing in the morning before breakfast and just before your evening meal. This gives you an idea of your baseline blood glucose levels, and can be compared to the levels a healthy person might have in the same circumstances.
Many people also test immediately before eating and two hours later in order to measure the effect of specific foods or meals on their blood glucose levels. The purpose of this is help in planning a tailored diet to help control average blood glucose levels. This is not something I have yet tried personally - I'm happy enough to rely on medication and a generally healthier diet approach to reducing my average blood glucose levels, at least for the time being.
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