Questions about your diabetes care to ask your doctor When was the last time my hemoglobin A1c was tested?
What were the results, and what did they mean? How often does my physician do such testing? Hemoglobin A1c is a measure of diabetes control over the past 2-3 months. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, completed in the 1990s, showed that tight blood glucose control can conclusively lower the risk of certain diabetes complications. Your healthcare provider should be ordering an A1c test at least 2-4 times per year. Ideally your results should be below 7. If your results are over 7, and are running closer to 8.0 or above, your physician and healthcare team should be discussing with you potential changes in your treatment plan to improve your diabetes control, because your risks of developing diabetes complications are higher. If you are experiencing frequent low blood glucose (hypoglycemic reactions), your healthcare team should be discussing possible changes in your treatment plan to lower your risk of low blood glucose while keeping your A1C as low as safely possible.