Hospital v GP hba1c

[donnellysdogs]

How come my hospital finger hba1c test came in at 6.5 and the blood from my arm came in at 7.2?

Especially that in the 5 days difference my readings were high!!! Too high!!!!

Trouble is my gp goes by his reading and has called me back to see him because his reading said 7.2.

My hospital actually wanted to see a hba1c of 8.0, so when I got the gp one of 7.2 I was reallt pleaed that they had gone up as hospital requested from 6.6.

Now my hospital result has actually come in lower at 6.5??

How can there be such huge differences?

 

[iHs]

Not sure on this but I think the blood sample taken from a vein is the most accurate whereas fingerstick hba1c is not so reliable

 

[shanet]

i once had finger prick at hospital that said 17, i told nurse it cant be correct ,was too high in my opinion,she redid test there and then within 60 seconds of first one with a different tester and it was 7.6 , thats one hell of a difference between them ,she said machine wasnt calibrated correctly, i wonder what about all the other patients that were checked in the clinic that day ? i would tend to rely on blood drawn from arm to be more percise too as it is sent to a lab ,i dont know how they check it but i assume its using something more accurate then finger tester.

 

[Ria]

I am now confused. I thought that the hba1c was the blood test that measures longterm glucose level (3 months) .This is different (and will give different results) to the blood test taken from your finger. Or am I wrong?

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[donnellysdogs]

Both were hba1c blood tests....
One from artery in arm
One from finger test (some hosps do hba like this)

Both were totally different.

 

[Yorksman]

You can have meters which measure hba1c from capilliary blood (finger prick) and which measure plasma blood glucose levels but, in both cases, these are not as accurate as venous blood taken with a syringe. Those are better blood samples but finger pricks samples, for either hba1c or blood plasma glucose, are quick snapshots.

In addition, the analysers in the haematology labs are far more accurate. I don't know about the accuracy of a hand held hba1c meter reading but the plasma meters, the type most of us use, are required to provide a reading +/- 10% of the true figure for 95% of the time. In other words, 1 in 20 can be completely wrong and of the other 19 out of 20 readings 6.3mmol/l is just as valid as 7.7mmol/l, this being the acceptable range of a true value of 7.0 mmol/l. I don't know about you but 6.3 makes me feel good whereas 7.7 makes me feel somewhat bad. In reality, the one is as valid as the other. Handheld meters and capilliary blood samples are cheap and cheerful. A small haematology lab or hospital ward may have something like a Coulter LH750 at $20,000. http://www.blockscientificstore.com/Bec ... lh-750.htm