Diabetes Education

Diagnosis

Diabetes is diagnosed with a fasting blood sugar test or with a non-fasting glycated hemoglobin test (A1c). A fasting blood sugar is performed after you have had nothing to eat or drink for at least eight hours. A random non-fasting test can be performed and diagnosed if the patient is experiencing hyperglycemic symptoms. (See Symptoms of Diabetes).

The following source is from the American Diabetes Association 2011.

Criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes

	Normal	Pre-diabetes	Diabetes
*Fasting Glucose	Less than 100	100-125	126 or higher
Random, non-fasting glucose on a patient with symptoms of hyperglycemia	Less than 140	140-199	200 or higher
*A1c	Less than 5.6%	5.7 – 6.4%	6.5% or higher

*In the absence of unequivocal hyperglycemia, criteria should be confirmed by repeat testing