Common Misunderstandings About Glycated Hemoglobin in Diabetic Patients

[Voice of Hope October 2, 2023](Editor: Li Wenhan) Glycated hemoglobin can reflect the average blood sugar level of diabetic patients in the past 2 to 3 months, and is not affected by the time of blood drawing, whether they are fasting, whether they use hypoglycemic drugs, etc. influence of factors. However, many people have certain misunderstandings about this indicator. Let us take a look at it below.

Misunderstanding 1: The closer the value is to normal, the better

Many patients believe that the closer the glycated hemoglobin is to the normal value, the better (the normal value range for standard testing methods is 4% to 5.9%). This understanding is imperfect. Diabetes treatment emphasizes the principle of individualization, and the control standards for glycated hemoglobin also vary from person to person. Sometimes people with severe disease may lose more than they gain by blindly pursuing a low glycated hemoglobin value.

Diabetes (pixabay)

Misunderstanding 2: One monitoring of glycosylated hemoglobin and blood glucose is enough

Glycated hemoglobin and self-blood glucose monitoring are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages for the follow-up of diabetic patients. Compared with random blood sugar, the detection value of glycated hemoglobin is not affected by random factors and has nothing to do with whether the blood is collected on an empty stomach, so it is more stable. Blood sugar can reflect the real-time situation, especially through multi-point blood sugar monitoring (blood sugar spectrum), which can reflect the patient’s blood sugar fluctuations and control throughout the day.

Myth 3: Glycated hemoglobin is very stable and can always reflect the true situation

Under normal circumstances, the changing trends of blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin are consistent, but sometimes the changes in the two are inconsistent. For example, in fulminant type 1 diabetes, glycated hemoglobin may not be able to keep up with the speed of acute blood sugar changes, and therefore cannot reflect the true average blood sugar level. Alcoholism, iron deficiency anemia, and hypertriglyceridemia can also increase glycated hemoglobin. Pregnant women have increased blood volume, decreased hemoglobin, as well as hemolytic anemia, acute and chronic blood loss, chronic renal failure, hemoglobinopathies, etc., and the measured glycosylated hemoglobin values ​​are all low.

Myth 4: Testing glycated hemoglobin requires fasting

Glycated hemoglobin is not affected by meals, and blood can be collected at any time during testing without fasting. However, for patients with anemia and hemoglobin abnormalities, the glycated hemoglobin test results are unreliable, and blood glucose, glycated serum albumin, or glycated serum protein should be used to evaluate blood sugar control.

Diabetes (pixabay)

Misunderstanding 5: Diabetic patients need to test glycated hemoglobin from time to time

Glycated hemoglobin is the “gold standard” for diabetes monitoring, but frequent testing of this indicator is not necessary. Patients with newly diagnosed diabetes need to have glycated hemoglobin tested; for patients whose blood sugar control is stable and reaches the target, the glycated hemoglobin can be measured twice a year; for patients whose treatment plan changes or whose blood sugar control fails to meet the target, it is best to measure the glycated hemoglobin once every quarter.

Editor in charge: Li Zhi

This article or program was edited and produced by Voice of Hope. When reprinting, please indicate Voice of Hope and include the original title and link.

2023-10-02 12:13:23

#major #misunderstandings #glycosylated #hemoglobin #Glycated #hemoglobin #Blood #sugar #Blood #sugar #monitoring