Over the past couple of weeks, a few ‘sponsored’ posts from Diabetes NSW and ACT have popped up in my social media feeds in relation to a campaign that’s currently running. This campaign, which is also sponsored by Novo Nordisk, is calling on us to ‘know the numbers’ in order to make better decisions around our diabetes management.
I am all for knowing my numbers. I absolutely love being able to monitor my blood glucose levels frequently, whether that be through test strips, FreeStyle Libre or Dexcom sensors. I love all of the added insight that blood glucose data gives me in order to make more effective decisions around my diabetes and my activity. I honestly could not live without it.
It’s just a shame that the only number that’s receiving any attention through this campaign is the hba1c.
Hba1c is essentially a three month average drawn from some of the glucose that attaches to the red blood cells. The campaign website claims that:
“Even if you check your blood glucose levels several times a day you may miss the highest and lowest points. The HbA1c test is an average so it will capture all of the highs and lows.”
I’m not actually sure how the hba1c can capture all of the highs and lows that a person with diabetes chalks up. When you’re averaging out numbers, you’re essentially masking all of those high and low points into one potentially very attractive looking number.
As a person who has lived with type 1 diabetes for almost a decade, I have personally found that the hba1c test in no way adequately captures the magnitude of my highs and lows.
If I need any further evidence of this being so, I need look no further than last week where I was chatting with someone who could have been telling my own story. Satisfactory hba1c, with levels that were bouncing between 2 and 20, while the healthcare professional was none the wiser and had no reason to offer additional support.
Admittedly, I cannot adequately understand the usefulness of the hba1c result to someone living with type 2 diabetes. Or, someone who doesn’t use insulin and isn’t subject to the same glycemic variability that I am accustomed to. Especially in light of the restrictions on access to subsidised test strips through the NDSS, perhaps hba1c is a useful tool here.
I’m not trying to take away from the hba1c result. I guess from my perspective, I’m just tired of every single allied healthcare professional judging my diabetes in the sole basis of one number. The hba1c. We don’t need to be raising the profile of the hba1c. For a healthcare professional, it seems to be almost synonymous with diabetes. So, in that respect, it’s disappointing to see this being in the best interests of a diabetes organisation and the consumers that they are representing.
Why not ask me about average glucose levels? The standard deviation of those results? Or my time in range, if I am wearing a CGM. Or even how I’m feeling about my diabetes, and more broadly?
These are all measures that have far more meaning, and better reflect the day to day management of my diabetes than the hba1c test ever could.
I cannot agree more. My teenage son had a stellar A1c for the first year post dx. What that hid was the night after night of lows, the interrupted sleep for both of us, the exhaustion the next day, the underperformance at school and work the constant worry and fear. We have a great doctor who tells us to look at time in range and almost disregards A1c. Yes, his A1c is higher these days, but we sleep, we stress less and he’s a healthier happier teenager. A1c simply doesn’t accurately reflect the real story behind the number. There’s much more to T1D management than the A1c.
Yes, yes, yes!!
Here is a number I want to hear about. What is your average weekly mental index score. TO have that you need to to take a mental health assessment. we do that in Rheumatic disease categories. Would, PWD’s?