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Can the A1c test be used to screen for or diagnose diabetes?

April 26, 2017A1c Diabetes Diagnose screen Test Used

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Can the A1c test be used to screen for or diagnose diabetes?

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This is a question that is currently being explored by the medical community, but the A1c test is not yet recommended for these purposes. The A1c test has the advantages of not requiring a person to be fasting and of giving an estimate of glucose levels for the past couple of months. There are, however, conditions such as anemia or the presence of hemoglobin variants that can interfere with the test’s interpretation. And there are currently no established cutoff values to compare A1c test results to in order to use them for diabetes screening or diagnosis.