A1C Test

How does this A1C test work?

This tool is often called as HbA1c Test or Glycated Hemoglobin Test and is a quick way to check whether your self care plan designed to control blood sugar ensures the desired results or not.

The test requires you to input either of the Average Blood Sugar or A1C level in order to find the other value. Once you input one of this data you will be given the result comprising of the other and an interpretation of what that means for your health.

The formulas used by the A1C test are presented below:

■ To estimate the A1C level the form does the following steps:

Step 1: Calculate A = Average Blood Sugar + 46.7

Step 2: Calculate A1C level = A/28.7

■ To estimate the average Blood Sugar level there are the following steps:

Step 1: Calculate A = A1C level * 28.7

Step 2: Calculate Average Blood Sugar = A – 46.7

After the steps mentioned above are performed, it compares the A1C level to the following ranges in order to display a short interpretation of the value:

- checking for a value below or equal to 5.9%;

- checking for a value above than 5.9% but lower than 7%;

- checking for a value above or equal to 7% but lower than 8%;

- checking for a value above or equal to 8%.

Example calculation

For an average blood sugar = 130 mg/dL it results that the A1C level is 6.16%. This comes with the following message:

Well done! Your A1C value is at an excellent level which means your blood sugar is maintained at a proper level.

However for any doubts you may need to discuss them with your doctor because this is only a rough estimation and lower levels don’t necessarily assume there is no underline condition or that there are no frequent blood sugar lows that are suggesting this result!

What is A1C?

This is basically the hemoglobin A1C value, hemoglobin being a component of your red blood cells. The A1C value is obtained by taking a specialized test performed by a professional or by a device.

You can use the tool above to input your results and monitor your progress so far because this value provides a good indicator of your diabetes or blood sugar control.

The A1C cells that are moving through your blood stream naturally attach glucose (blood sugar) and the cell becomes glycated. The more sugar in the blood the higher the percentage.

The values in mg/dL you get from the glucose tests have a percentage equivalent for the A1C test. What is special about this test is that it keeps track of up to three months of levels because the A1C cells have a life span of up to 4 months so at any time a test will reveal the result for a variety of cells.

A1C levels interpretation

A normal A1C level is below 5.7%, what is between 5.7 and 6.4% suggests pre-diabetes while everything above 6.5% indicates diabetes. Diabetics should have the test at least twice a year.

References

1) Nathan DM1, Kuenen J, Borg R, Zheng H, Schoenfeld D, Heine RJ. (2008) A1c-Derived Average Glucose Study Group. Translating the A1C assay into estimated average glucose values. Diabetes Care; 31(8):1473-8.

2) Diabetes UK. (2009) HbA1c Standardisation For Laboratory Professionals