What is a “glycosylated hemoglobin” or “hemoglobin A1c” test?
A “glycosylated hemoglobin” level or “hemoglobin A1c” is a test that measures your average blood sugar for the past 3 months. And it’s incredibly helpful because in any given day, someone with diabetes has a blood sugar that goes up and down and up and down again, and what you want to know is really the average blood sugar for the past 3 months. I know that if your hemoglobin A1c is less than 7, your risk of complications, of going blind or going on dialysis is much less. Now all of us have glucose in our blood, so all of us have a hemoglobin A1c level that is somewhere between 4 to 6. So 4 to 6 is normal. But more and more glucose will attach on to your cells as your glucose level goes higher, so the hemoglobin A1c, which is how much glucose is attached to your red blood cells, increases as the average level of sugar in your blood increases. It’s a very important test to have checked every 3 to 6 months: every 3 months if you’re on insulin, every 6 months if you’re on pills, and your
