June 2, 2008
Some Special Considerations For A1C Testing
There are special considerations in A1C testing for people of African, Mediterranean or Southeast Asian heritage. A variation of hemoglobin in your blood may produce false A1C test results. This could lead your health care professional to believe that your A1C level is either higher or lower than it truly is.
If you have a false high reading, your physician may change your diabetes medication or make other changes in your treatment that could cause low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. On the other hand, if you have a false low reading, the changes in your medicine could cause your blood sugar to stay too high. That could trigger the whole cascade of vicious interactions between diabetes and gum disease as well as other diabetes symptoms.
This hemoglobin variation doesn’t affect all A1C tests. There are steps your physician can take to make sure that you get accurate results.
Just the simple fact that you were born into this heritage could put you at risk of having a hemoglobin variant. There are several other potential circumstances that may predispose you to this variation.
· There is sickle cell trait or sickle cell anemia in your family
· The blood glucose monitoring you do yourself doesn’t match the results of your A1C test
· If your A1C test returns a result that is different from what you and your physician expected
· If your A1C is higher than 15
· Your most recent A1C result is significantly different from your last test
Any of these factors are considerations that could signal a need to look for a variant. Your physician can arrange a lab test to confirm whether you have a variation in your hemoglobin.
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