What the HbA1c Test measures
HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin) shows how much of the haemoglobin in your red blood cells has sugar attached to it. Red cells live for roughly three months, so the result works as an average of your blood sugar over the last two to three months instead of a snapshot of one morning. Doctors use it to diagnose diabetes and prediabetes, and to check how well treatment is working once diabetes has been diagnosed. Because it is an average, one late dinner or a single stressful day makes little difference to it, which is why many doctors prefer it to a lone fasting sugar for follow-up. It has limits. Conditions that change how long red cells survive, such as anaemia, thalassaemia trait or other haemoglobin variants, kidney or liver disease, recent heavy bleeding or a recent blood transfusion, can make the value look higher or lower than the true average. In those situations your doctor may rely more on fasting or post-meal sugar readings.
Price: the HbA1c Test costs ₹320 at Pure Bliss (MRP ₹400), with the sample collected at our Action Area 2, New Town centre or at your home.
Who this test is for
- People with diabetes, usually every three to six months to review control
- Adults being screened because of family history, excess weight, PCOS or past diabetes in pregnancy
- Symptoms such as constant thirst, passing urine often, unexplained weight loss or wounds that heal slowly
- A fasting sugar result that is borderline and needs confirming
How to prepare, the sample, and when to expect the report
Preparation
You do not need to fast, and the sample can be given at any time of day. Keep taking your usual medicines. Tell us if you have had a blood transfusion in the last three months or have a known haemoglobin disorder, because both change how the result is read.
Sample
Blood, from a vein in the arm (whole blood in an EDTA tube).
Reporting time
Reported the same day if the sample is given before noon, else by the next day.
Reading the result
As commonly used guidance (American Diabetes Association cut-offs), an HbA1c below 5.7% is considered normal, 5.7% to 6.4% falls in the prediabetes range, and 6.5% or above falls in the diabetes range; a diagnosis is usually confirmed with a repeat test or another sugar test. Your own report’s range and your doctor’s reading take priority over these general figures. Reference ranges differ between laboratories, so your report lists the laboratory’s own range beside each value. A result outside the range does not always mean illness; ask your doctor to explain it.
- Centre or home collection
- NABL-accredited Redcliffe Labs collection centre
- How collection works →
The HbA1c Test can be booked at the clinic in Action Area 2 or with a home collection from 7:30 AM. Patients come to us from Action Area 1, Action Area 3, Rajarhat, Chinar Park, Salt Lake Sector V, Sukhobrishti and Eco Park.