Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Fasting or Non-Fasting A1C

Q: My husband had a fasting a1c test and today she said the test wasnt run as a fasting A1C, it was non fasting listed in the medical chart. Could the 7.5 be different if they were done for nonfasting, compare to fasting 14 hours?

thank you
A: The A1C test can be drawn fasting or nonfasting. It is an average of all the glucose readings over the past 3 months--maybe a little more heavily weighted by the blood sugar readings over the past few weeks, but not too much. The readings don't change quickly, like our glucose readings using our meters.

Fasting or not, and given the variations in laboratory results, take the reading for what it is---a general idea of how the blood glucose control has been going. If it's causing worries, have the test repeated. Talk to your diabetes educator and your doctor to see if they think it would be best to tighten the diabetes control a little.

Take care, ginny

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Who Is Ginny?

Ginny Burns is a local nurse who has worked with people who have diabetes for the last 20 years. She is credited with years of dedication to the American Diabetes Association and Utah Association of Diabetes Educators. She also brings the invaluable experience of having Type 1 diabetes for 39 years which makes her a unique resource to answer your questions.