Goals for geriatric hba1c

QUESTION: What are the goals for geriatric hba1c?


ANSWER: Hi there,

At first, I want to remind you that the HbA1c (A1C) value has to be fewer than 7%. However, not all people have a glycated hemoglobin result, which is under 7%, but they don’t have diabetes, mainly observed due to individual metabolic differences.

Because of those differences, every single man has different blood glucose concentration and glucose value as well.

Based on this, ADA (America Diabetes Association) defines that the exact value of the glycated hemoglobin depends on the gender, age, physical activity and other factors.

Regarding the age, you have to know that young patients have lower values of glycated hemoglobin than the old ones.

Something else regarding your question is that with age the glucose metabolism gets slower, which leads to the accumulation of glucose in the blood. This explains why the blood glucose level is sometimes higher in patients above the age of 60.

Other important thing is that the exact amount of glycated hemoglobin depends on the blood glucose concentration. So, when you have more glucose in blood the value of the glycated hemoglobin will be high as well.

Because of those things mentioned above, the older patients sometimes have glycated hemoglobin concentration, which is higher than 7%.

However, there is no accepted value for old patients, but it would be better for you to keep your glycated hemoglobin concentration under 9% or even under 8%.

For either cases, you can talk to your personal doctor to define your own normal blood sugar levels.

Hope it helped!


Dr.Alba