Fasting Glucose, HbA1c… How to Read the Numbers on Your Checkup Report

Your health checkup report includes several blood-glucose-related numbers. If you know what each one means, you can understand your own condition much more accurately.

Fasting blood glucose

This is blood glucose measured after fasting for at least 8 hours. Below 100 mg/dL is normal, 100–125 mg/dL is impaired fasting glucose (prediabetes), and 126 mg/dL or higher meets the diagnostic criterion for diabetes.

HbA1c

This is the proportion of hemoglobin in red blood cells that has glucose attached, and it reflects your average blood glucose over the past 2–3 months. Below 5.7% is normal, 5.7–6.4% is prediabetes, and 6.5% or higher meets the diagnostic criterion for diabetes.

Don’t judge by a single number

In principle, a diabetes diagnosis is confirmed by repeat testing on a different day. If your self-check result exceeds the criteria, get an accurate test at a medical institution.

Go to the blood glucose interpretation tool