Measurements which confuse many

[Alan44]

My HbA1c blood test says 51 (surgery bloods taken) but I see others at 100 plus
My finger prick test at home says 5.5 but I see others at 20 plus.

Have I got the measurements wrong or is this difference right ??

Alan 😉

 

[silver minion]

My HbA1c blood test says 51 (surgery bloods taken) but I see others at 100 plus
My finger prick test at home says 5.5 but I see others at 20 plus.

Have I got the measurements wrong or is this difference right ??

Alan 😉

Hi @Alan44 welcome to the forum. Your readings are likely to be accurate within the variance allowed in testing. Fortunately your HbA1c is at the lower end of the scale <48mmol/mol. Hopefully relatively modest changes to your diet and exercise will bring your blood glucose down to non diabetes levels. My HbA1c was very high at diagnosis but I think I was diabetic for some time before it was confirmed. Now I have changed my diet by cutting out empty carbs with little nutritional benefits, like sweets,cakes, pastries and reducing consumption of grains, potatoes, pasta and rice my HbA1c is coming down.

 

[Leadinglights]

My HbA1c blood test says 51 (surgery bloods taken) but I see others at 100 plus
My finger prick test at home says 5.5 but I see others at 20 plus.

Have I got the measurements wrong or is this difference right ??

Alan 😉

Yes it is right, the threshold for diagnosis is an HbA1C of 48mmol/mol and there will be people who will be just over that but also people whose HbA1C is incredibly high in triple figures, I not sure what the record is but I'm sure I have seen as high as 150mmol/mol.
You will see people with between 42 and 47 and they will be given a pre diabetes or 'at risk' diagnosis and below 42 is normal.
The number you get from a finger prick is a moment in time of their glucose level and obviously if their HbA1C is low then the finger prick is more likely to be lower than somebody whose HbA1C is sky high.
But finger prick readings will vary throughout the day depending on many things so even in one individual they may vary between 5 mmol/l with a fasting /morning reading to maybe as high a 12 if they test within an hour of eating which would then come down to below 8 after 2 hours and back to about 5 before eating again. But food is only one thing that affects finger prick readings./0

 

[Alan44]

Yes it is right, the threshold for diagnosis is an HbA1C of 48mmol/mol and there will be people who will be just over that but also people whose HbA1C is incredibly high in triple figures, I not sure what the record is but I'm sure I have seen as high as 150mmol/mol.
You will see people with between 42 and 47 and they will be given a pre diabetes or 'at risk' diagnosis and below 42 is normal.
The number you get from a finger prick is a moment in time of their glucose level and obviously if their HbA1C is low then the finger prick is more likely to be lower than somebody whose HbA1C is sky high.
But finger prick readings will vary throughout the day depending on many things so even in one individual they may vary between 5 mmol/l with a fasting /morning reading to maybe as high a 12 if they test within an hour of eating which would then come down to below 8 after 2 hours and back to about 5 before eating again. But food is only one thing that affects finger prick readings./0

Thanks for that, I just found it hard to believe that some figures could be so far apart, but you explain it very well, thank you
Alan 😉

 

[Inka]

My HbA1c blood test says 51 (surgery bloods taken) but I see others at 100 plus
My finger prick test at home says 5.5 but I see others at 20 plus.

Have I got the measurements wrong or is this difference right ??

Alan 😉

Yes, they’re all right. When I was diagnosed a fingerprick blood test put me at almost 30mmol. Others have been diagnosed at an even higher level, eg in the 50s (although I imagine that’s quite rare as they’d be pretty ill by then).

I don’t remember what my HbA1C was but it was presumably pretty high too as I was on the verge of DKA and had lost a significant amount of weight extremely quickly.

 

[Sally71]

When my daughter was diagnosed, her fasting finger prick was 18, non-fasting was off the scale on the meter (lab result 46), and I don’t know what her HbA1c was at diagnosis but a couple of months later it was still 112 so must have been fairly horrific to begin with. Once it came down we’ve managed to keep it under 55 pretty much all the time thankfully. I was a bit slow to pick up on the symptoms, then couldn’t get an emergency appointment at the GP as they seemed to think it was nothing to worry about (!) so by the time we actually saw them she was going into DKA

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks for that, I just found it hard to believe that some figures could be so far apart, but you explain it very well, thank you
Alan 😉

Yes it just goes to show how brilliant the human body is at keeping things within very tight tolerances.

Not so easy when you have to start playing at being your own pancreas and trying to aim for that tiny ‘sweet spot’ in a much bigger range!