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What your HbA1c actually means

SamJB

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,857
Location
Chester
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Stumbled across this a while ago, it explains the weighting of your HbA1c value - basically what time period before your HbA1c reading affects it the most:

http://community.compuserve.com/n/d...tes&guid=1d6dfc97-f460-4ae2-9873-cf7781e9cd55

If you read the article (from another forum), it makes a reference to a forum post. So what I'm doing here is making a forum post about a forum post about a forum post! :lol:

The interesting bit is this:
Period prior | % of
to test | weighting
(days)

0-30 | 43.6%
31-60 | 31.2%
61-90 | 18.8%
91-120 | 6.4%
Click to expand...

Also that 8% of the reading comes from the 5 days before your test (and a 25% from the previous two weeks), so make sure you behave yourself then as it can affect the HbA1c significantly :!:

Edit: Made the quoted table a bit more readable.
 
That is interesting.

- although as someone very rightly said in another post, when you misbehave, your pancreas knows and tells your eyes, your toes and your kidneys!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
SamJB said:
Also that 8% of the reading comes from the 5 days before your test (and a 25% from the previous two weeks), so make sure you behave yourself then as it can affect the HbA1c significantly :!:
Click to expand...


To do so would be misleading Sam and we would only be kidding ourselves if we monitor our diabetes carefully leading up to the Hba1c test, I believe....along with the cholesterol check the results should reflect how we manage our diabetes overall.
 
although as someone very rightly said in another post, when you misbehave, your pancreas knows and tells your eyes, your toes and your kidneys!
Click to expand...

Very true!

To do so would be misleading Sam and we would only be kidding ourselves if we monitor our diabetes carefully leading up to the Hba1c test, I believe
Click to expand...

Maybe I didn't phrase that correctly. Quite right that you should carry on as normal, but don't consider being unusually naughty in that week or two as it will skew the results and mess up all your earlier hard work.
 
It's why I've had to delay my annual review by a month because I was on prescription steroids for a week which had my blood sugars well raised.
 
Just had a thought (yes, ok, please keep the jokes to a minimum).

I've got my first h-thingy blood test the last week of June. I'm so pleased with the way my BG has come down, I was sure the results were going to be ok. But 3months will include the month before I was diagnosed so my readings will be sky high! do you think I should ask for an appointment in August??


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I don't see the point of delaying any of these tests ! Surely you all want accurate meaningful results ? If they're high, act on it. If they're good, well done !


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
That's the point. I have acted on it. The test at the end of the month will include a period of a month when I didn't know I was diabetic so wasn't doing anything cept trying to give my body the sugar it seemed to need. It won't be an accurate indication of the control I've fought for and achieved since diagnosis.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

My first hab1c was only 6 or 7 weeks after I was diagnosed but even then it dropped from 130 to 72. My consultant was pleased to see I could give such a turn around and knew I was on track to have a (hopefully) good result the next time around

It's an indicator of how well you're doing, I certainly wouldn't delay it
 
They didn't do a Hba1c when I was diagnosed. Doesn't seem fair that I get a ticking off if its high when I've come down from readings of 17 and 13 to 4's and 5's.

Sulking now.


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hornplayer said:
They didn't do a Hba1c when I was diagnosed. Doesn't seem fair that I get a ticking off if its high when I've come down from readings of 17 and 13 to 4's and 5's.

Sulking now.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...

If your current reading will be unrepresentatively high, that just means your next hba1c after that will look even more impressively low (once you get BGs under control you never manage as steep a drop again, so give yourself a chance to enjoy it). They won't tick you off if your BG diary is good anyway.
 
Oh I just mean the booklet for readings you get with your meter. Some call it a 'Log Book'. I know someone who calls it his Fantasy Novel, because he only enters BG readings that are good -- he is going to Diabetes Hell.
 
Don't think I got one of those. I was originally told to test at random once a day. Didn't tell me anything so I got my own strips and have been testing regularly. I take it I should take my readings with me?


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
hornplayer said:
Don't think I got one of those. I was originally told to test at random once a day. Didn't tell me anything so I got my own strips and have been testing regularly. I take it I should take my readings with me?


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...

DEFINITELY take your readings with you. They are proof of your new virtuous life, and they are irrefutable evidence that you are doing the right thing.
 
Red blood corpuscles are being formed on a continuous turn-round. Each individual corpuscle has a life of about 120 days. This isn't exactly the same for everyone, but an average[ guesstimate?]
It all shows how useless an annual HbA1c is in monitoring control and that we should all monitor ourselves.
Hana
 
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