What the heck, a1cs don't match!

MagentaMouse

I went to my endo yesterday for an a1c check and she did the quick finger stick and it was 5.5. I'm not a diabetic (yet) and haven't been dx with gestational diabetes again (yet), but 5.5 was higher than it's ever been. I have been having pretty fantastic numbers since I was about 8 weeks along, so I was shocked. There's no way that's accurate. So I had her draw blood from my arm and have the actual lab do it. Well, they say my a1c is 4.6!!! I'm so confused and I don't know what to believe. They say the real blood draw should be more accurate, but neither number seems right. And I know my sample didn't sit around because they had the result in such a short time. Based on my glucometer numbers, my a1c should be about 4.9. Does anybody have any insight? Thank you!!!

MamaPharmD

Point of care (instant) A1C results are generally more inaccurate, which is why they aren't used to definitely diagnose diabetes. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but there were quality standards that laboratory A1C tests had to meet that point of care A1C tests were not subject to.

As far as your glucometer numbers not matching with your A1C, your glucometer readings can only give you idea of what your A1C is. You only take your readings at specific times rather than continuously throughout the day so you don't know for sure what your blood sugar levels are like in between those timed readings. Let's say you test your morning fasting and 2 hours after each meal. Your blood sugar levels could drop lower than what you get for your 2-hour test, which would make your actual A1C lower than your estimated A1C.

Hope that all made sense!