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How accurate are A1C tests?

H

helen louise

Well-Known Member
Messages
155
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
I was dx in Feb with type 2, I had a fasting level of 18.4 & a A1C level of 12.1%
4 mths later & another round of blood tests I have a fasting level of 11.1 which I am not surprised at as no matter what i do I can't seem to get the level any lower, but what really surprised me was the A1c test which was 51.00 mmol or 6.8%
now I rarely seem to have my bloods at lower than 7 ish so I can't understand why the A1C test is that low?

I test reg so know roughly what my daily levels are & its this what has made me question the reliability of the test
 
The test is reliable, more so than your meter. Well done on your great improvement! It is real! Few things to remember:-
The A1c is looking at what happens over 24hours a day for a few months. Your tests are taken probably 2 hours after eating when levels are still elevated; they'll be lower the rest of the time
Fasting levels always seem to be the last to come down, and the dawn phenomenon gives us falsely high readings; we are lower than our fasting BG during the night frequently.
The meters we use simply aren't reliable, they are within about 15% accurate IF we do the test properly.
So sit back and enjoy your result, and continue to work on getting even lower
 
Though the figures seem similar an HbA1c of 6.8% doesn't equate to an average glucose level of 6.8mmol/l. They are measuring different things.
For an average person an HbA1c of 6.8% is the equivalent of an average glucose level of 8.2mmol/l (and we're not all average by any means so it could be higher or lower.
 
Thanks to both of you, 8.2 sounds much more like what I expected!

Due to go & see the nurse later this week for the review but I couldn't wait that long for the results so went to the surgery & got a print out,

Cholesterol levels have improved also!

cholesterol level was 6.8 now 4.5
triglyceride was 7.43 now 2.12
hdl level was 1.1 now 0.82
total cholesterol hdl ratio was 6.2 now 5.5
ldl level 2.7 (wasn't tested before)

no idea what half that means but I dare say I will find out later
 
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