This test checks whether you have diabetes - or your control if you do.
HbA1c is the gold standard test for diabetes diagnosis or monitoring.
Over a million people in the UK have diabetes and do not know.
This test can be a finger-prick home test or a phlebotomy sample
Undiagnosed, untreated diabetes mellitus will shorten your life by years and cause a lot of misery in the meantime.
Diabetes results in excess glucose (sugar) in the blood which damages small blood vessels. This in turn damages virtually every other organ and system in the body.
Insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, takes sugar out of the blood and deposits it inside our cells where it is supposed to be.
Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90% of diabetes and is caused by the body not responding to insulin in the way it should. This type is caused by a combination of lifestyle and genetic factors and is notoriously difficult to diagnose from symptoms, and very often is present for several years betore treatment starts.
Type 1 diabetes is 10% of diabetes cases. This is caused by the body attacking its own pancreas due to an autoimmune process and stopping it from producing any insulin.
Diabetes can be treated but you need to know whether you have it of not. By far the best way to check whether you have diabetes or not is with a blood test. It can take on average up to 2 years before people find they have Type 2 diabetes from symptoms and a lot of damage is being quietly done to the body in that time that could be avoided if they knew.
There are over a million people in the UK who do not know they already have Type 2 diabetes and are steadily damaging their bodies without knowing about it.
Over 3.9 million people do know they have diabetes and need their HbA1c levels checked every few months to monitor how they are managing their condition.
This is a potentially life-saving test.
Not knowing you have diabetes, or not managing the diabetes you do know about will shorten your life but on the other hand, knowing, treating and monitoring will go along to improving your wellness and longevity.
Checking your levels of HbA1c is a way of confirming if you have (or are at risk of developing) diabetes. Unmanaged or undiagnosed diabetes is one of the leading causes of mortality. For anyone who already knows they have diabetes, regular HbA1c checks are essential to monitor progress.
Laboratory results are provided with reference ranges which are based on the normal test results of a large group of healthy people from the same age group and gender as yourself.
Sometimes, healthy people get results outside the reference range, while people with health problems can have results in the normal range. If your results fall outside the reference range, or if you have symptoms despite a normal result, you may require more testing or wish to discuss the result with your GP.
For simplicity, we provided your results graphically, so they are easy to understand. Any result flagged amber is outside of the standard range. Normal results are in green.
If you see ‘invalid result’ on any of your report pages, it’s nothing to worry about. Please call our Customer Service team on 020 7183 3718 and if required we will be able to arrange another blood test appointment free of charge or post you a home testing kit which you can post back to our laboratory
Our team of physicians is made up of some of the best in the field, including consultant pathologists, microbiologists, biochemists, haematologists and general practitioners who work together to provide you with a clear picture of your current health. High ethical standards and a commitment to excellence are at the heart of their work at London Medical Laboratory.
