A1C Test Goals

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A1C Test Goals

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A1C Calculator

How does your average blood sugar equate to an A1C?

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Self-Care Assessment Quiz

Find out if you have room for improvement in your diabetes care plan.

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Monitoring & Treatment

»

Testing Blood Sugar

»

Your A1C Test

» A1C Goals

A1C Test Goals

What's a " normal " A1C result? For a person who doesn't have diabetes, about 5%

of the hemoglobin A1C molecules have blood sugar molecules attached to them.

That would correlate to an A1C test result of 5%.1

Without proper treatment, people with diabetes can have A1C results that are

much higher. According to the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS),

for every point you lower your A1C result, you can significantly reduce the risk

of long-term

diabetes complications

such as nerve damage, eye disease, and kidney and

cardiovascular problems

.. Even if you already have some complications from diabetes, lowering your A1C

may help reduce the symptoms or reverse the problem altogether.2

In addition, the Diabetes Control and Complication Study (DCCT) showed that an

A1C that's close to normal can reduce your risk of:

table with 2 columns and 4 rows

Diabetes Complication

Reduced Risk3

Eye Disease (Retinopathy)

76%

Kidney Disease (Nephropathy)

50%

Nerve Damage (Neuropathy)

60%

table end

Using the chart below, you can see how your A1C result correlates to average

blood sugar. For example, if you have an average plasma blood sugar of 170

mg/dL your A1C would be 7%.

table with 2 columns and 9 rows

Average Plasma Blood Glucose

A1C Result

100 mg/dL

5%

135 mg/dL

6%

170 mg/dL

7%

205 mg/dL

8%

240 mg/dL

9%

275 mg/dL

10%

310 mg/dL

11%

345 mg/dL

12%

table end

If your A1C test result is higher than recommended, it's important to take steps

to improve control. Talk to your healthcare team for suggestions and support.

For people with diabetes, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends an

A1C of less than 7%,1 while the American College of Endocrinology (ACE)4

and International Diabetes Federation (IDF)5 suggest 6.5% or lower.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 American Diabetes Association, " A1C Test. " Available at

http://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabetes/a1c-test.jsp . Accessed on February 3,

2006.

2 UK Prospective Diabetes Study. Available at

http://www.dtu.ox.ac.uk/index.html?maindoc=/ukpds/. Accessed on February 3,

2006.

3 Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, National Institute of Diabetes and

Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Available at

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/control/.

Accessed on February 3, 2006.

4 The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Medical Guidelines for

the Management of Diabetes Mellitus. Available at

http://www.aace.com/clin/guidelines/diabetes_2002.pdf.

Accessed on February 3, 2006.

5 International Diabetes Federation. Available at http://www.idf.org/home/.

Accessed on February 3, 2006.

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