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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:

TestsResults

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).