In diabetes, what do you understand by Glucose Test Results?

Blood glucose tests are done to check the level of glucose (a sugar) in your blood. Blood glucose tests are done to diagnose diabetes.

The test may be done in the morning before you eat anything after an overnight fast (fasting blood glucose) or at random (without considering the time when you ate last).

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG): This test measures blood glucose level in the morning (after 8 hours of fasting) before you eat or drink anything even tea or coffee. The test can help to diagnose diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Diagnosis based on fasting plasma glucose

• FPG <99 mg/dl is considered normal
• FPG between 100 to 125 mg/dl indicates pre-diabetes (or impaired fasting glucose)
• FPG >126 mg/dl indicates diabetes

Random plasma glucose test: The test measures blood glucose at any time of the day disregarding to when the person last ate. This test is usually done to diagnose diabetes but not pre-diabetes.

• Random blood glucose level > 200 mg/dL along with symptoms of diabetes (such as increased urination, increased thirst, unexplained weight loss) indicates that you may have diabetes.

If your blood glucose test results are abnormal your doctor will do repeat testing on a different day to confirm the results and may recommend other tests like oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to confirm the diagnosis.

Dr Poonam Sachdeva, our in-house medical expert talks about the why what and how in diabetes.

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