The combination of hemoglobin present in red blood cells and glucose is called glycosylated hemoglobin.
It allows you to evaluate the level of glycemia over the lifetime of red blood cells, approximately within 120 days. The substance is found in all people, and its level is exceeded in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Analysis of glycated hemoglobin gives a more reliable idea of the course of the disease, the correctness of the therapy chosen by the doctor. Unlike a blood test for sugar, you can donate it at any time of the day, not on an empty stomach.
Is the analysis on an empty stomach or not?
The main convenience of research on glycated hemoglobin is that it can be carried out even after the patient has taken food.
Usually, after eating, the sugar in a person, even a healthy one, rises, so they take blood on an empty stomach. They also do a load test to track the trend of increasing performance.
In this diagnosis, the patient’s attempts to start adhering to a strict diet in a few days, not to eat before it, will be inappropriate. It doesn’t matter, because what matters is a period of about three months. This is the lifespan of red blood cells.
The reliability of the results is also affected by gender, age of the person.
Is blood taken from a finger or from a vein?
Blood sampling for testing for glycosylated hemoglobin is carried out from a vein. Volume – 3 cubic centimeters.
The test results will be ready within three days. Normally, in healthy people, the amount of the substance should not exceed 6%.
If it ranges from 5.7 to 6.5%, glucose intolerance can be diagnosed. Values above this level indicate that a person has diabetes mellitus. The values of the substance in children are almost the same as in adults.
How to test for glycated hemoglobin?
An analysis is prescribed for predisposition to diabetes, obesity, polycystic ovaries and the birth of a dead child by a woman. There are no special instructions regarding the preparation for the diagnosis.
The study has several advantages over sugar analysis:
The test results will not be distorted by food intake, errors in diet, fasting. Some doctors still advise not to overeat before the examination and even refrain from taking food for several hours;
blood can be stored in a test tube until analysis;
the reliability of the test will not be affected by stress, physical activity;
Do not be nervous, smoke or take alcohol before the sugar test. Before the test with a load, they are not even allowed to walk, use a mobile phone. In this case, these factors are not important. But any sane person will not load himself with alcohol, fatty foods and overwork on the eve of an important examination.
A blood test for glycated hemoglobin helps to detect diabetes at an early stage of its development, while fasting sugar may not be detected.
You can get tested in both public and private clinics. But the results, like the cost, are different. You should choose a trusted institution, since a person’s life depends on the reliability of the information.
What can affect HbA1C and blood sugar levels?
It makes no sense to test pregnant women, since it collects data for the last three months. At the same time, gestational diabetes is found in expectant mothers after 25 weeks.
The diagnostic results will be unreliable in patients suffering from anemia, thyroid diseases.
Data can be distorted when taking vitamin C and E, hypoglycemic drugs. It is not recommended to take an analysis for women during menstruation, as well as for patients who have undergone short surgical operations.
Bleeding results are underestimated, anemia is overestimated. Do not test for glycated hemoglobin in children under six months of age.
When passing an analysis for sugar, the preparation is more serious, and the indicators may depend on many factors:
- with prolonged fasting, a decrease in glucose levels is observed;
- alcohol and smoking distort information;
- transferred stress and excessive fatigue will change the data upward or downward;
- taking many drugs affects the indicators.
The patient should not eat for at least eight hours before testing for sugar.
Do not do x-rays, massage and physiotherapy. The result will be infectious diseases. In the case of the analysis for glycated hemoglobin, there are much fewer restrictions for its passage.
It is quite accurate, but gives an idea of the level of glycemia in the last three months. He will not fix a sharp rise in sugar in a certain period, but it is his jumps that are dangerous for a diabetic.
Between studies on glycated hemoglobin, patients need to independently monitor plasma glucose levels with a glucometer , as well as donate blood on an empty stomach. If the analysis showed an excess of the norm of the substance, it is recommended to additionally do a tolerance test.
The frequency of testing
An analysis for glycated hemoglobin for preventive purposes should be taken by all people after forty years of age once every three years.
Once a year, the study is shown to the following persons:
- having relatives with diabetes;
- obese;
- by the nature of activity little moving;
- abusing alcoholic beverages, tobacco products;
- who had gestational diabetes during the period of bearing a child;
- women with polycystic ovaries.
It is necessary to control the level of the substance in both young children and adolescents.
This will allow early detection of problems and prevent complications caused by diabetes. It is also important for older people to have regular check-ups. After sixty years, almost all of them have elevated sugar levels.
Many people miss the first symptoms of prediabetes , they turn to the doctor only when their health has worsened. Regular blood testing can help prevent complications that are more difficult to treat in the elderly.
If a person has found himself with frequent urge to urinate, a feeling of constant thirst, and he is also very tired, his wounds do not heal well, his vision worsens – this is a reason to ask the doctor to prescribe an analysis for glycated hemoglobin.
Diabetics should be examined every three months, regardless of the degree of compensation of the disease.
Control will provide an opportunity to assess the quality of treatment of the patient, adjust therapy.