HbA1c (Glycated Hemoglobin)
A focused test for 3-month avg sugar.
Overview
Measures 3-month avg sugar. A single-sample test processed at an NABL-accredited lab, with reports in 6 hours and a free doctor review.
The full panel
1 tests across 1 groupEvery parameter, grouped by body system — no clicking to expand.
What this test measures
The percentage of your haemoglobin that has glucose stuck to it. Because red cells live around three months, HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin) reflects the average blood sugar over roughly the last 8–12 weeks, weighted towards the most recent weeks — a memory of your control rather than a snapshot of this morning.
A single fasting sugar can be moved by one bad night's sleep, an infection or yesterday's dinner. HbA1c cannot, which is why it is used both to help diagnose diabetes and to judge whether treatment is working over time. Most people with diabetes have it checked every three to six months.
Symptoms that lead to this test
- Increased thirst and passing urine more often
- Unexplained weight loss with a normal or increased appetite
- Blurred vision, or slow-healing cuts and recurrent skin infections
- Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
- Known diabetes due for its routine three-monthly review
Understanding your results
On widely used criteria, below 5.7% is the non-diabetic range, 5.7–6.4% is the range usually described as prediabetes, and 6.5% or above falls in the diabetic range — but a diagnosis is made by a doctor, usually on a repeat test, and never from one report alone. HbA1c is unreliable in several common situations: it reads falsely LOW when red cells turn over quickly (recent blood loss, haemolysis, pregnancy, chronic liver disease) and falsely HIGH in iron-deficiency anaemia or after a splenectomy. Haemoglobin variants such as thalassaemia trait can also distort it. In any of those cases a fasting glucose or a fructosamine test is used instead.
Indicative only. Reference ranges vary between laboratories and between testing methods, and shift with age, sex and pregnancy — always read your own result against the range printed on your own report, with the doctor who ordered it.
| Parameter | Indicative range | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| HbA1c — non-diabetic range | Below 5.7 | % |
| HbA1c — prediabetic range | 5.7–6.4 | % |
| HbA1c — diabetic range | 6.5 and above | % |
| Estimated average glucose at 6.0% | Approximately 126 | mg/dL |
Why the preparation matters
HbA1c itself needs NO fasting — that is the whole point of it, and you can have it drawn at any time of day after any meal. The 10–12 hour fast is listed here only because this test is usually drawn alongside a fasting glucose or a lipid profile from the same sample. If HbA1c is the only test you need, eat normally.
Who should consider this test
- Anyone already diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes
- Adults over 35, or younger with a BMI above 25
- Anyone with a parent or sibling who has type 2 diabetes
- Women with previous gestational diabetes or PCOS
- People on long-term steroids or antipsychotic medication
Conditions it helps detect
How home collection works
Patient stories
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