pre diabetes diagnosis a1c
Hindi – A1C in Diabetes – Part 2. Dr. Anup, MD Teaches Series

Diabetes mellitus diagnosing test

High level of glucose in blood and later appear in urine is called as diabetes mellitus. So glucose is the most important test to a diabetic. The fasting blood glucose level test is the most common screening diagnosis test for diabetes and pre-diabetes. It is usually ordered when someone has symptoms of diabetes or for a person having high diabetes risk factors.

Random plasma glucose test
The random plasma glucose test measures plasma glucose levels at any time without fasting or no worry about what you have ate. This blood sugar test can do casually at any time, so it is called as casual plasma glucose test.

Random plasma glucose test is just used for the screening of diabetes, if there is any abnormal result then diabetes needs to be confirmed by fasting plasma glucose test or oral glucose tolerance test.

Fasting plasma glucose test
According to the American Diabetes Association, either a fasting plasma glucose (fasting for about 8 hour) or an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) may be used to diagnose diabetes and pre-diabetes. But normally recommends the fasting plasma glucose test because it is easier, faster, and less expensive to perform compared to oral glucose tolerance test.

Fasting plasma glucose test is carried out after 8 to 12 hours of fasting (should not eat or drink anything except water). If there is any abnormal test result then it is recommended to repeat this test on another day.

Oral glucose tolerance test
OGTT requires to having a fasting plasma glucose test, followed by drinking a standard amount of glucose solution to “challenge” their system, followed by another plasma glucose test 2 hours after the consumption of glucose. If there is any abnormal result, then the test should be repeated on another day to confirm a diagnosis of diabetes.

Glucose challenge test
Gestational diabetes is usually diagnosed using a glucose challenge test (GCT) as a screen, followed by OGTT if the screen test result is abnormal.

Diabetics must monitor their own blood glucose levels, often several times a day, to determine how far above or below their glucose level is and, based on their doctor’s recommendation. This is usually done by placing a drop of blood (obtained by pricking the skin with a small lancet device), onto a glucose strip and then inserting the strip into the glucose monitor, a small electronic machine that provides a digital readout of the blood glucose level.

Glycated hemoglobin A1C
A1c (also called hemoglobin A1c or glycohemoglobin or Glycated hemoglobin A1C) is a test that is recommended several times a year to monitor patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It is a measure of the average amount of glucose present in the blood over the last 2 to 3 months, which helps the doctor to find how well a treatment plan is working to control the patient’s blood glucose levels over time.

Now a day’s doctors recommend A1C even if you maintain your blood glucose level near normal through home glucose monitoring. Because it provide a mean value of glucose for previous 3 months.

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