Your Lab Results: Glycohemoglobin

Glycohemoglobin

Glycohemoglobin (Hemoglobin A1 or A1c, HbA1c): Glycohemoglobin measures the amount of glucose chemically attached to your red blood cells. Since blood cells live about three months, it tells us your average glucose for the last six to eight weeks. A high level suggests poor diabetes control. Standardization for glycohemoglobin from lab to lab varies, and you may not be able to compare a test from different labs unless you can verify the technique for measuring glycohemoglobin is the same. The only exception is if your lab is standardized to the national DCCT referenced method. You can ask your lab if they use a DCCT referenced method. The American Diabetes Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recently endorsed the use of the HbA1c as a tool to diagnose diabetes, with a level of 6.5 or more indicating diabetes. This provides an alternative to the oral glucose tolerance or fasting glucose tests for the diagnosis of diabetes. Persons with an lesser degrees of HbA1c elevation (6.0 - 6.4) may still need a glucose tolerance test for the formal diagnosis of diabetes.

Our lab does use a test method that is DCCT referenced.