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HbA1c?

fumanchu

fumanchu

Well-Known Member
Messages
393
Location
Scotland
Type of diabetes
Family member
Treatment type
Diet only
Husband has done well to get his daily BG readings down to 6-7. This is 3 or 4 readings a day. He's asking what sort of HbA1c that should give him, if anybody knows?
 
Not possible to predict, due to lots of things. For example, when the readings are taken, how long the readings have been at that level, what his last HbA1c was, how long ago, what if any increase there is after food, etc.
Though I would add that 6-7 is not a bad level to have.
 
fumanchu said:
Husband has done well to get his daily BG readings down to 6-7. This is 3 or 4 readings a day. He's asking what sort of HbA1c that should give him, if anybody knows?
Click to expand...
In the beginning I tried to "average" my fingerprick readings and predict an A1c result. It didn't work for me. I also found it better to use the fingerpricks as tolerance testers for foods, using the info to cut out anything I couldn't handle - all of it carbs, but potato, bread and pastry in particular.

Keeping that under control did lead idc to a good HbA1c, but the A1c wasn't in any way predictable from the fingerprick values. There's research that shows there's often little correlation between fingerprick tests and the HBA1c. This paper talks about matching CGM results to HbA1c in a a non-diabetic population, and found it difficult to establish any correlation.

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/104/10/4356/5479355

A lot depends on (eg) when in the day the fingerpricks are done and how systematic they are. You also don't know what's happening at the points you're not testing - such as when you're asleep and the impact of what your liver gets up to.

My experience was that testing before and +2 hrs after food was the most informative.
 
We're testing 3 times a day (2hrs after meals) plus first thing, it was just to try and keep things under control after a few months when he lost motivation and let it all slide. Won't matter then, cos surely things are far better than they were. He was hitting 9-10 before when he did bother to test - but that was just a few months in summer when he got fedup. Thanks anyway :)
 
HbA1c tests take an average of BG levels over 90 days according to my diabetic nurse. So as @KennyA and @Pipp have said, it’s well nigh impossible for a lay person to predict.
As you said, so long as your husband’s pre- and post-prandial readings are maintained going forward, that’s an excellent way to keep on top of things.
 
With a finger prick test, i liken it to the average miles per gallon my car displays, most of the time i aim for 99.9 mpg, the maximum the display reads. If i accelerate very hard, that figure drops to 5.6 mpg, the lowest i've seen. But if i scroll to average consumption, it shows about 50 miles to the gallon, this is the Hba1c. finger pricks are the glance at the reading, Hba1c is the recorded average.
 
I just wondered if any of you had similar readings and could relate. No matter, we will carry on and find oot eventually TY!:D
 
aylalake said:
HbA1c tests take an average of BG levels over 90 days according to my diabetic nurse. So as @KennyA and @Pipp have said, it’s well nigh impossible for a lay person to predict.
As you said, so long as your husband’s pre- and post-prandial readings are maintained going forward, that’s an excellent way to keep on top of things.
Click to expand...
Actually HbA1c doesn't measure blood glucose levels at all. It counts "glycated red blood cells" which is then used as a proxy to estimate a value of blood glucose for the three months.
 
KennyA said:
Actually HbA1c doesn't measure blood glucose levels at all. It counts "glycated red blood cells" which is then used as a proxy to estimate a value of blood glucose for the three months.
Click to expand...
Apologies - I was multitasking when I typed that and got my terms mixed up! Iwastrying to make the point that it’s a time lapse of 90 days.
 
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