Diagnosing Diabetes
Only your healthcare provider can tell if you have diabetes. Your provider may do one or more of the following tests to confirm:
| Tests | Results |
Blood Glucose tested anytime of the day
(including those tested after meals)
| 200 mg/dL (or 11.1 mmol/L) or more
and you have symtoms of diabetes. |
FPG - Fasting Plasma Glucose
(no food at least for 8hrs) | 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L)
or more on two occasions |
OGTT - 2hrs Oral Glucose Tolerance Test
(Glucose level 2hrs after drinking a bottle of water containing 75g of glucose) | 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L)
or more |
A1C
Blood test that measures average blood glucose levels
that were attached to red blood cells over the 2-3 months.
No fasting needed. | 6.5% or more |
All
of the above tests need to be repeated to confirm if you have diabetes.
The A1C test is recently approved to be used as diagnosis of type 2
diabetes. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) may be a better test to
determine if an individual of Asian descent has diabetes or
pre-diabetes because the fasting plasma glucose test sometimes can miss
the diagnosis especially in this population.
Diagnosing Pre-Diabetes
If
your blood glucose is higher than normal but not high enough to be
diagnosed as diabetes, you may have "pre-diabetes." Test results that
could indicate pre-diabetes are as follows:
- FPG between 100-125 mg/dL or 5.6 – 6.9 mmol/L
- OGTT between 140 - 199 mg/dL or 7.8 - 11.0 mmol/L
- A1C between 5.7% -6.4%
51% of Asian Americans with diabetes are undiagnosed. The AADI is leading the SCREEN AT 23 Campaign as a member of Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islandar Diabetes Coalition (AANHPI DC).
