Diabetes Tests and Targets

Maintaining your A1C or blood glucose targets is very important to overall health and avoiding future complications of diabetes.

The A1C is a blood test that reports a percentage that reflects how well sugars have been controlled over the past few months. For most diabetics an A1C of 7% or lower is the target to aim for.

Home glucose monitoring can involve a fasting glucose test (when the patient has had nothing to eat or drink for 8 hours or longer), or a glucose test taken 2 hours after a meal. Targets for fasting test should be between 4 - 7mmol/L and between 5 - 10 mmol/L two hours after a meal.

Patients can rely on doing A1C tests alone, rather than spend time self monitoring every day.

Patients with diabetes are at a higher risk of heart disease than the general population, and should therefor have their cholesterol levels checked at least once a year and aim to have an LDL level of 2.0 mmol/L or lower.

Monitoring overall vascular health is important for patients living with diabetes. Patients should aim to have a blood pressure less than 130/80.