Is Glucose Level Of 252 An Indication Of Severe Diabetes ?
Question: My 89 year old mother's recent blood test reported a gluclose level of 252 and a HGB-1-C of 7.2 and yet her doctor is NOT treating her for diabetes. Please help e understand. I have not had a response to my call to the doc. but I read this as full blown diabetes. She is highly anxious....are they connected?
How do I get an answer?
Hi
Thanks for your query.
From your history,the recent blood test of blood glucose of 252( I presume its Random blood sugar values) and Hgb-1c of 7.2 , HbA1c( Hgb -1c) indicates the level of saturation of hemoglobin with blood sugars,which can be quantified and indicates the blood sugar levels in the past 3 months ,since it is 7.2, which is higherside of the normal, suggest Diabetes mellitus. But i suggest you to do Fasting blood sugar(FBS) and Post prandial blood sugar(PPBS) tests.
Since FBS and PPBS are cosidered more reliable as they indicate fluctuations in blood sugar levels and HbA1c is not affected by short-term fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations, it is used as a prognostic guide,the higher the values more the end organ damage( like Eyes-Retina, kidney, heart , etc).
Since your mother is on prednisolone medication, which is steroid drug, which can also causes in raised blood sugar level, depending on the dosage and duration.
Also the diabetic effects on retina can be made out through ophthalmic examination which also indicates the chronicity (duration)of the diabetes.
Considering the above points a suitable management( initiating antidiabetic treatment and decreasing the predinsolone sideeffects, diet care) can be done.
Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them
Hope your mother recover soon
Regards.
Thanks for your query.
From your history,the recent blood test of blood glucose of 252( I presume its Random blood sugar values) and Hgb-1c of 7.2 , HbA1c( Hgb -1c) indicates the level of saturation of hemoglobin with blood sugars,which can be quantified and indicates the blood sugar levels in the past 3 months ,since it is 7.2, which is higherside of the normal, suggest Diabetes mellitus. But i suggest you to do Fasting blood sugar(FBS) and Post prandial blood sugar(PPBS) tests.
Since FBS and PPBS are cosidered more reliable as they indicate fluctuations in blood sugar levels and HbA1c is not affected by short-term fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations, it is used as a prognostic guide,the higher the values more the end organ damage( like Eyes-Retina, kidney, heart , etc).
Since your mother is on prednisolone medication, which is steroid drug, which can also causes in raised blood sugar level, depending on the dosage and duration.
Also the diabetic effects on retina can be made out through ophthalmic examination which also indicates the chronicity (duration)of the diabetes.
Considering the above points a suitable management( initiating antidiabetic treatment and decreasing the predinsolone sideeffects, diet care) can be done.
Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them
Hope your mother recover soon
Regards.
Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar