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Can You Trust Hba1c Results?

Rustytypin said:
I've just checked my 90 day averages at around the time of last year's HbA1c (41) and the average of 5.8 mmol gives an estimated A1c of around 34!
@DavidGrahamJones ,on the very rare occasions I have been awake enough in the middle of the night to check my BGs the tests come out in the mid 5s, my fasting levels average in the low 6s.
I now have to decide wether to resign myself to acknowledging that I'm not catching all the spikes, or perhaps my red blood cells don't last the same time as most peoples (clutching at straws?)
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You could always splash out on a home HbA1c test kit. A1cNow is easy to use - just a finger prick similar to our meters. From official assessments I have read about this test it is reasonably accurate, and is used by the medical profession. You can Google for these. Several people on this forum have used them, and most find it tallies with the lab tests. It could be worth a try for you. I used it, and it tallied exactly with my own finger pricks and the Libre, but was nowhere near my real HbA1c.

https://www.bhr.co.uk/home-user-products/a1cnow-2
 
Thanks for the link @Bluetit1802 I will look into that, and report back re the results.

Edited to add, I have ordered the A1cNow kit, hopefully will be with me next week.
 
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Bluetit1802 said:
You could always splash out on a home HbA1c test kit. A1cNow is easy to use - just a finger prick similar to our meters. From official assessments I have read about this test it is reasonably accurate, and is used by the medical profession. You can Google for these. Several people on this forum have used them, and most find it tallies with the lab tests. It could be worth a try for you. I used it, and it tallied exactly with my own finger pricks and the Libre, but was nowhere near my real HbA1c.

https://www.bhr.co.uk/home-user-products/a1cnow-2
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With an accuracy of -11 to +9 mmol/mol it seems a bit pointless.
 
Plus the finger prick takes potentially both oxygenated blood and cellular plasma along with deoxygenated blood. whereas the HbA1C is veinous blood only so more accurate representation?
 
You can't trust referees to get it right either, but we're stuck with them - just like HbA1c tests. ;):woot:
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Link?
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You provided it for @Mr_Pot I believe

In the technical specification it reads

It is unlikely that your A1c Now® result will match the A1c result obtained from your medical professional or laboratory. In these clinical environments, different technologies from the A1c Now® SELF CHECK are used to determine your A1c. Every test, be it laboratory to home testing has a degree of variation. The A1c Now® result can differ from -11 to +9 mmol/mol from your true A1c result. This means that if you have a true A1c of 53 mmol/mol, the A1c Now® SELF CHECK result may be between 42 to 62 mmol/mol
 
britishpub said:
You provided it for @Mr_Pot I believe

In the technical specification it reads

It is unlikely that your A1c Now® result will match the A1c result obtained from your medical professional or laboratory. In these clinical environments, different technologies from the A1c Now® SELF CHECK are used to determine your A1c. Every test, be it laboratory to home testing has a degree of variation. The A1c Now® result can differ from -11 to +9 mmol/mol from your true A1c result. This means that if you have a true A1c of 53 mmol/mol, the A1c Now® SELF CHECK result may be between 42 to 62 mmol/mol
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Thank you. I hadn't read that. Of course, that all depends on whether one's HbA1c result is true!
 
britishpub said:
You provided it for @Mr_Pot I believe

In the technical specification it reads

It is unlikely that your A1c Now® result will match the A1c result obtained from your medical professional or laboratory. In these clinical environments, different technologies from the A1c Now® SELF CHECK are used to determine your A1c. Every test, be it laboratory to home testing has a degree of variation. The A1c Now® result can differ from -11 to +9 mmol/mol from your true A1c result. This means that if you have a true A1c of 53 mmol/mol, the A1c Now® SELF CHECK result may be between 42 to 62 mmol/mol
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Exactly.

It also did not seem very useful based on the following statement from the same link...
* Do not make any changes to your treatment, lifestyle or diet based on the A1c Now® SELF CHECK without consulting your doctor. These tests do not replace regular blood glucose monitoring or doctor’s advice/treatment plan.

I was actually reading the information hoping to find out how it worked but all it said was....

The A1cNow® SELF CHECK uses a system of chemical reactions to measure the A1c levels in your blood.
 
I have just had mine back and they are 44 as well. My readings are always in the 5s and 6s.
 
I have used several A1cNow test kits (by several, I mean around 20). When I order, I usually order the boxes of 10 as they are by far the more cost effective (I've never quite gone for the 20s). Obviously the included reader, which id batch specific is all paart of the cost, whether we buy one test or 20. I can then do a sense check as and when I feel like it.

When using A1cNows, I will always do an A1cNow test the same day as my venous A1c, at the hospital. I have never had a variance of more than 0.1% on any time I've done this. For me they work, whereas my finger prick and Libre averages/estimates/forecasts are always significantly adrift to the lab results.

At the end of the day, we have to decide what we trust, then relax into that.
 
I guess just because it “can” have such a wide variance doesn’t mean anyone’s actual test is incorrect by that much.

Most people trust their regular finger prick tests even though deep down we know the result isn’t necessarily particularly accurate.

I wouldn’t pay £40 for a kit, but that is due to being a tight wad rather than not trusting the result.
 
DCUKMod said:
I have used several A1cNow test kits (by several, I mean around 20). When I order, I usually order the boxes of 10 as they are by far the more cost effective (I've never quite gone for the 20s). Obviously the included reader, which id batch specific is all paart of the cost, whether we buy one test or 20. I can then do a sense check as and when I feel like it.

When using A1cNows, I will always do an A1cNow test the same day as my venous A1c, at the hospital. I have never had a variance of more than 0.1% on any time I've done this. For me they work, whereas my finger prick and Libre averages/estimates/forecasts are always significantly adrift to the lab results.

At the end of the day, we have to decide what we trust, then relax into that.
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Why on earth would you do all those tests?
 
Mr_Pot said:
Why on earth would you do all those tests?
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These days I finger prick test much less, and don't do an A1cNow any more than about once a month or so. The tests usually have a very long currency date, if kept in a refrigerator, so I'm hardly becoming a pin cushion.

Going back to me earlier comment about the reader/meter being a factor in costs, you will see what I mean here:

upload_2018-8-17_19-38-27.png

The one time I found myself with tests hanging around, when I was going away for several months, and switching friidges off, I had no qualms giving the balance of the box to another T2. The reader is tied to the batch of tests, but doesn't store any information, not does it come into contact with any blood, so it's all very safe.

It's my choice. I don't expect it'd be for everyone.
 
Mr_Pot said:
This was the reason for my question. What can you get from frequent HbA1c tests that you can't get from finger prick tests?
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Mr Pot - My finger prick tests and venous A1cs are never aligned - ever. The Libre forecasts and venous A1cs are never aligned. That's never, ever, in any instance. The A1cNow tests have been, in all instances been a max of 0.1% adrift from venous A1cs, when done on the same day.

Were I finger prick testing enough to build up a decent picture of A1c (even if it were in danger of aligning) would likely cost me at least as much as a bunch of A1cNow tests.

Each of us chooses our path. I've chosen mine.
 
I believe that @CherryAA does the same as @DCUKMod . There may well be others, and now I have given it a try I may follow suit. I use an Accu Chek Mobile finger pricker because of the convenience, but even buying cartridges on eBay costs me a small fortune. I test between 6 and 8 times a day under normal circumstances, and also am a part time Libre user. The A1cNow will save me a lot of money.
 
@DCUKMod I see it is as prone to the same errors due to non standard haemoglobin as the lab tests so I could no more trust it than I could a lab test unfortunately.
 
I will say this for the HbA1c it is a far superior diagnostic tool than the taste of someones urine.
 
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