Conversion Chart A1c To Glucose

Benefits Of Lowering Your A1c Test Result

Keeping your A1C test results low can significantly reduce the risk of long-term diabetes complications such as nerve problems, damage to your eyes, kidney disease and heart problems.3

1American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes2017 . Diabetes Care. 2017 40: S1-S135. Available at: . Accessed July 28, 2017.

2Nathan DM, Kuenen J, Borg R, Zheng H, Schoenfeld D, Heine RJ. Translating the A1C assay into estimated average glucose values. Diabetes Care. 2008 31: 1473-1478. Available at . Accessed July 28, 2017.

3American Diabetes Association. A1C and eAG. Available at: . Accessed July 28, 2017.

4Tylee TS, Trence DL. Glycemic variability: looking beyond the A1C. Diabetes Spectrum. 2012 24: 149-153. Available at . Accessed July 28, 2017.

How To Calculate A1c To Average Blood Sugar

How Does It Work

This test also relies on a protein called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a part of red blood cells that carries oxygen.

Glucose sticks to hemoglobin. So, the more glucose thats in your blood, the more it will stick to the hemoglobin.

The average lifespan of red blood cells is about 120 days . So, this test can measure the average blood glucose level during the previous 2 to 3 months with the modified hemoglobin.

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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%.

Setting Goals For A1c Levels

The target A1c level for people with diabetes is usually less than 7%. The higher the hemoglobin A1c, the higher your risk of having complications related to diabetes. Someone who has had untreated diabetes for a long time might have a level above 8%.

If you have diabetes and your level is above your target, your doctor may change your treatment plan to get your level down.

A combination of diet, exercise, and medication can bring your levels down.

People with diabetes should have an A1c test every 3 months to make sure their blood sugar is in their target range. If your diabetes is under good control, you may be able to wait longer between the blood tests. But experts recommend checking at least two times a year.

People with diseases affecting hemoglobin, such as anemia, may get misleading results with this test. Other things that can affect the results of the hemoglobin A1c include supplements such as vitamins C and E and high cholesterol levels. Kidney disease and liver disease may also affect the test.

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A1c Levels Explanation And A1c Calculator

Your A1C test result can be a good general gauge of your diabetes control, because it provides an average blood glucose level over the past few months.

Unlike daily blood glucose test results, which are reported as mg/dL, A1C is reported as a percentage. This can make it difficult to understand the relationship between the two. For example, if you check blood glucose 100 times in a month, and your average result is 190 mg/dL this would lead to an A1C of approximately 8.2%, which is above the target of 7% or lower recommended by the American Diabetes Association for many adults who are not pregnant. For some people, a tighter goal of 6.5% may be appropriate, and for others, a less stringent goal such as 8% may be better.1 Talk to your doctor about the right goal for you.

How To Calculate A1c / Formula

It doesnt get any easier than utilizing our A1C calculator. Simply enter the level of hemoglobin A1C from your lab test to get an instant result. Both the hemoglobin and average blood sugar sections allow you to move freely between units.

Here is the formula for converting A1c to average blood sugar for people who are inquisitive about the details:

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Hgb A1c Chart For Diabetes

Contains the levels of A1c that considered high for people suffering from DM patients whose treatment based on metformin or insulin.Any reading of A1c is greater than 6.5 tells you have got DM according to ADA guidelines,although for people who are already have DM and taking medications the levels from 7 to 8 is the target value they should shoot for.However persons with type 1 DM and are on insulin especially children may show A1c levels over 10,and they must fight to lower their Hgb a1c levels to theee goal targets.Two consecutive tests show high A1c levels confirm the diagnosis of DM and means that the person has diabetes millitus type 2 or type 1.For a person on metformin and A1c 7% it means he achieved the target value for type 2 diabetes mellitus.However, for type 1 diabetes millitus and persons taking insulin to control DM the A1c 8.0 is mild as all his results may hit the A1c 12%.

Try Our A1c Calculator

Not everyone loves crunching numbers, so if that formula is too much of a hassle, try our handy estimator:

Remember, you only see a rough estimate when calculating your A1C without using a proper lab test. Any calculator will use your blood glucose to estimate your A1C. As you now know, this is only a derivation and not an actual measurement.

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What Does A1c Measure

You may be wondering what makes this test different, especially if you already check your blood sugar multiple times a day. The A1C test goes by a few names, including glycosylated hemoglobin, glycated hemoglobin, or hemoglobin A1C . All of these names hint at what is being measured the amount of sugar attached to hemoglobin.

Hemoglobin is a protein found inside red blood cells, and its job is to carry oxygen to the lungs and all of the cells in your body. Glucose enters your blood stream and sticks, or glycates, with the hemoglobin. The higher your blood glucose, the more sugar-coated or glycated the hemoglobin becomes.

Since the lifecycle of a red blood cell is about four months, the A1C percentage reflects average blood sugar levels detected on hemoglobin cells of varying ages days, weeks, or months old. If your blood glucose control has generally been steady, your hemoglobin cells will not be highly sugar-coated, or glycated, leading to a lower A1C value.

Why Was My Hba1c Result Higher/lower Than The Result Given By The Calculator

In addition to the reasons given just above, there are some other practical reasons which may explain difference between the calculators estimate and your lab results. We will look at a few of the more common reasons for differences.

If you take a relatively high proportion of your blood glucose tests at the same time of day, eg upon waking, the HbA1c result the calculator gives will give a decent reflection of your early morning results but may not so well represent your blood glucose levels at other timers in the day.

Similarly, if you take more before meal, rather than after meal, readings, the HbA1c result given by the calculator will give a better reflection of your before meal results than after meal ones.

Typically, most peoples after meal results are higher than their before meal results, so if you take significantly more before meal results than after meal readings, you may find that the calculator gives you a lower result than your lab test result will.

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Blood Glucose Levels Units & Guidelines

The unit of glucose monitors or blood tests varies depending on the country.

The United States uses mg/dL and Europe uses mmol/L.

The following are the current guidelines in the United States. The units are in mg/dL:

Note: Oral glucose tolerance test results are also given in these units.

A1c Levels Chart For Pregnancy

A reasonable A1C goal for many nonpregnant adults is ,7% .For type 1,2 preexisting diabetes , its safe to reduce A1C below 6.5% , to minimize the risk of congenital anomalies.Management of Diabetes during Pregnancy, Accelerated red blood cell turnover is the reason behind decreased A1C in normal pregnant women than in normal nonpregnant women.The A1C target level in pregnancy is 66.5% .Optimal A1c level during pregnancy:It is 6% if this can be achieved without significant hypoglycemia, but the doctors may target A1c 7% to prevent hypoglycemia in pregnancy. In the second and third trimesters:To hit the lowest risk of large-for-gestational-age infants doctors must target A1C 6% ,because studies shown that 6.5% is related to increased adverse outcomes.Blood sugar target levels during pregnancy:The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the ADA-recommended targets for women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes as follows:

• Fasting #95 mg/dL and either
• One-hour postprandial #140 mg/dL or
• Two-hour postprandial #120 mg/dL

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Some Of The Ways Medicines Can Lower A1c Include:

• cause the liver to reduce its output of glucose
• adding insulin when the body is not producing a sufficient quantity
• reducing insulin resistance by making the body more sensitive to its own insulin
• cause the body to increase production of insulin

Keep in mind that illness or infection can also affect A1C. Be sure to make a note of any illnesses you may have had so you can offer your health care provider this information at your next visit.

How To Lower A1c Level

Your doctor will tell you to lower your A1C levels if your test shows they are too high. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

• Consult your doctor about medicine. Make sure youre following the doctors instructions when taking them. Mention any other medications youre taking for different ailments, as they could interact.
• Check your blood sugar levels more frequently and make sure youre using the suitable treatments . If you believe this is a problem for you, seek professional treatment.
• Increase your physical activity. You dont have to train to be an Olympic athlete, but you should strive to include a few short walks in your daily routine. Every step is crucial!
• Attempt to reach and maintain a healthy BMI .
• The BMI is the most fundamental indicator, but you should also consider your waist-hip ratio. A large amount of visceral fat has been related to an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.
• Maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet. If youre overweight, dont go over your daily calorie restriction, and attempt to eat even less. Say goodbye to processed meals and sweets.

If you follow those recommendations, your hemoglobin A1C levels will almost certainly improve.

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Simple Conversion Formula For A1c From Average Blood Glucose

Now that you know what A1C is and what it measures lets see how to calculate it. You can estimate it using a formula no more complicated than converting Celsius to Fahrenheit . All you need to do is apply your average blood glucose measurement to one of the following formulas:

If your blood glucose is in mg/dL , use this formula:

/ 28.7 = your A1C

If your blood glucose is in mmol/L , use this formula:

/ 1.59 = your A1C

If youâd like to read more about where these numbers come from, you can check out our source here.

Conditions That Can Affect The Clinical Utility Of Glycated Hemoglobin

A simple rule of thumb for recalling the causes of either falsely high or low glycated A1c is to recognize the conditions that alter the life span of red blood cells. Since glycated hemoglobin measures how long the red blood cell is exposed to continuing glycation in the setting of significant hyperglycemia, conditions that alter the life span of a red blood cell can impact the final value of this diagnostic test.

Patients with blood loss, either acutely or chronically, experience a depletion of red blood cells, which will falsely lower glycated hemoglobin. A similar scenario occurs in patients with hemolytic anemia. Since the spleen is important in the clearing of old red blood cells, in patients with a large spleen, a state of hypersplenism occurs whereby red cells are removed from circulation at a much faster rate than usual. This also causes a falsely low glycated hemoglobin.

Red blood cell transfusion can lead to a falsely high glycated hemoglobin if it is stored in a high dextrose-containing medium or low due to a delusional of circulating red blood cells. To further complicate matters, hemoglobin variants and significant vitamin C ingestion may result in either falsely high or low A1c depending on the assay technique.

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Eag The New Guidelines

As you learned from the previous sections, glucose tests and their results can be confusing and hard to understand.

Since HbA1c is expressed as either a percentage or mmol/mol, it is not something that intuitively relates to the glucose results obtained through a glucometer.

The good news is that a study affirmed the existence of a relationship between HbA1c and average blood glucose levels! This means that it is possible to convert one to the other.

In other words, your physician can now report your HbA1c using the same units as your glucometer . But if that is not the case, then dont worry, with the help of our conversion charts you will be able to easily do it yourself!

Quick A1c Calculator: All You Need To Know About A1c In 2017

Have you heard your doctor or friends mention the term A1C and wonder to yourself what in the world does it mean? Or its could be familiar word, but you never really understood what it meant for you? Fret not. After reading this, youll know exactly what A1c is, what your ideal A1c should be, and how you can estimate A1c using an A1c calculator/converter. And I promise Ill make it easy for you to understand. What does A1c stand for? HbA1C is a medical term, and refers to glycated haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying molecule in your red blood cells. So this is actually a measure of how much glucose is attached to the haemoglobin in your red blood cells. It is done as a blood test, usually ordered by your doctor every 3 6 months if you have diabetes. Youll see your result displayed as a percentage in your blood test report . Since your red blood cells typically live for approximately 8-12 weeks, your A1c number serves as a marker of your average blood glucose levels over the past 2 3 months. This is how a typical A1c result will look like in your blood test report. What is a normal A1c level? And how about in diabetes/ prediabetes? A healthy person has an A1c of 5.6% or less. A person with Prediabetes usually has a A1c between 5.7% and 6.4% A person is diagnosed with Diabetes when his or her A1c is more than 6.5%. The higher your average blood glucosContinue reading > >

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What Are Foods I Can Eat To Lower My Number

• Monitoring your carbohydrate intake is essential to lowering blood glucose levels and therefore A1C levels. The foods you eat can have a direct impact on your blood glucose. Carbohydrate examples include potatoes, rice, bread, fruit, milk,and other starchy foods. When too many carbs are eaten, the blood sugar may rise too high. Frequent blood sugar spikes will be reflected as a high A1C level.
• Lower carb recipes and diabetes friendly meals will help lower blood sugar levels and therefore be reflected as a lower A1C level. Be careful of “hidden” sources of carbohydrate. These include breading on meat, sauces, and low fat dressings.

• Label reading is important when grocery shopping. Check the total carbohydrates on the label in order to stay in your ideal carbohydrate range. Try to focus on measuring carbs and eating non-starchy vegetables, lean meats and unsaturated fats. Eating 3 medium size meals each day and 1-2 snacks will also help stabilize blood sugar.
• Be sure to ask your health care provider for individualized advice regarding any changes you would like to make in your eating habits including cooking tips, lower carb snacks and eating out with diabetes. Planning ahead will increase your chances of success regarding your diet and will help you include diabetes friendly comfort foods.