by Kathy Hillary, RN, CDE, CFCN

An international expert committee assembled by the American Diabetes Association, International Diabetes Federation and the European Association for study of Diabetes is recommending using the A1C test to diagnose diabetes.

This will be a major change in the way diabetes is diagnosed. The current way of diagnosing diabetes, is a fasting blood glucose test, or an oral glucose tolerance test. In making this new recommendation, the committee examined the relationship between long-term glycemic exposure and complications, and recommended that the A1C test (which measures average blood glucose over the prior two to three months) may be a better marker of diabetes and should be used as a diagnostic test.

Data has been reviewed regarding A1C levels and long-term complications. The committee concluded that an A1C equal to or greater than 6.5 should be used to diagnose diabetes. People with an A1C equal or greater than 6.0, but less than 6.5 are likely at risk of developing diabetes.