Glucose Blood Tests and Targets for Diabetes
For a person who suffers from diabetes, performing a glucose blood test to measure their blood sugar levels is usually a daily occurrence, essential in providing guidance on how well their illness is being controlled. The measurement of blood sugar levels provides an indication on whether adjustments in dietary or exercise routines need to be made. Some diabetics may test once a day while others may need to take several blood tests each day, especially if wishing to more closely monitor the effects of their food intake, the source of the sugars that circulate in the bloodstream.
For more on the need to monitor blood sugars and the glucose blood test, please visit Achieving Normal Blood Sugars.
Diabetes, an incurable disease
Diabetes is an incurable disease in which diet and exercise are the primary treatment approaches in order to minimize the risks of the complication that can be the consequences of higher than normal blood sugar levels that occur when control cannot be achieved. Prescription medications are also necessary when diet and exercise cannot adequately control the diabetic condition.
The seventh leading cause of death in the United States
The seriousness of the diabetes cannot be overemphasized, the disease is the seventh leading cause of death in North America, primary from heart disease, but diabetes is also the leading cause of kidney failure, new cases of blindness, and lower limb amputations, other than accident victims.
Home monitoring, the glucose blood test
Diabetics are accustomed to measuring their blood sugar levels with the aid of a small hand-held device, a glucose meter, that gives an almost instant reading from a small droplet of blood, usually obtained from the end of a finger by using a special pricking device, referred to as a lancet.
Units of measure
In the United States, the units of measure used for the glucose blood test are milligrams per liter (mg/L). In most other countries blood glucose is measured in millimoles per deciliter (mmol/L). To convert mg/L values to mmol/dL, divide the U.S. mg/L by 18.
Two important blood sugar tests for reference are:
1. Fasting level, taken usually after a night of sleep and before eating food in the morning.
For the person with diabetes, the American Diabetes Association advises that a fasting blood glucose level target should be 70-130 mg/dl.
The normal range for a person who does not have diabetes is 70 to 100 mg/dl (4 to 5.6 mmol/L).
2. Post-prandial blood test, taken about 2 hours after eating a meal that can determine how efficiently the body handles the glucose load obtained from the food eaten. The amount of sugar in the blood rises after eating a meal and in the non-diabetic person, the blood sugar levels return to normal, but that is often not the case with people who have diabetes.
For the person with diabetes, the American Diabetes Association advises that by 2 hours after eating, the blood glucose level target is to be at less than 180 mg/dl.
The normal level for a person who does not have diabetes is less than 140 mg/dl.
The A1c clinical blood test
All people with diabetes must under the care and treatment a doctor. A doctor will periodically, about every three or four months, requisition a blood test, called an A1c hemoglobin test, which is analyzed at a laboratory.
The A1c blood test measures the blood sugar levels that have existed in the patient’s blood during the prior 12-week period approximately. This is because blood cells are constantly produced by the body and have a lifetime of about 12 weeks. During that time, glucose molecules become attached to some of the hemoglobin molecules that are a major of component of blood, enabling them to be measured as a percentage of total hemoglobin.
The target for A1c
According the the American Diabetes Association, the A1c target percentage is:
for a diabetic person: Less than 7%
for the non-diabetic: Less than 6%
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) recommends slightly lower values than the American Diabetes Association nd recommendations may also differ slightly in oher countries.
The glucose blood test and other disease complications
A clinical glucose blood test usually provides an analysis of other important blood constituents that help the physician assess a patient’s state of health, especially important since diabetes often leads to other health complications such as heart disease. Check this link for more on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease.
