Sunday, July 12, 2009
In the meantime, should physicians order an A1C test to make the diagnosis of diabetes? Well, they already are. The only issue is whether two or more elevated A1Cs (6.5 or higher) would be appropriate to nail the diagnosis if the blood glucose level was almost but not quite in the diabetic range. If a patient were to have elevated A1C values and not-quite-high BG levels, the patient is clearly at high risk, and meal planning and lifestyle interventions would be appropriate, as well as teaching the patient home glucose monitoring, and following the situation closely over the ensuing months.
