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Metabolism

HbA1c

HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) is the share of your hemoglobin that is stably bound to glucose. It gives an integrated picture of your average blood glucose over roughly the past 2 to 3 months. The most recent 30 days count for about half of the signal, per published kinetic models. HbA1c is the primary biomarker for diagnosing and tracking type 2 diabetes (a threshold of 6.5%) and prediabetes (5.7 to 6.4%). But be aware: it is influenced by your red-blood-cell lifespan, by anemia, and by hemoglobin variants.

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Sources

  1. DCCT Research Group. (1993). The Effect of Intensive Treatment of Diabetes on the Development and Progression of Long-Term Complications in Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (DCCT). New England Journal of Medicinedoi:10.1056/NEJM199309303291401

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