Comments on: Home A1C Testing vs. The Lab

By: James Maynard

James Maynard — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:46:18 +0000

I’m definitely going to have to try this. The one thing that worries me is the many different reports (at least in these comments) of greatly varying results. How accurate are these supposed to be?

By: Conrad

Conrad — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:28:19 +0000

I have used the Bayer A1cNow meter after a check at the VA and the VA said I was at 8.4 and Bayer said I was at 8.5 and didn’t match what was on the box, darn! The VA tests me about every 6 months and sometimes longer.
Maybe Bayer will start selling refill tests sometime soon, I really hate to throw the meter out in the trash. I will keep buying and using it til something better comes along.

Type 2 since 1991

By: Leighann

Leighann — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:59:08 +0000

When we go to our doctor’s main office at the major hospital, they do it in the lab and take a huge drop of blood for the A1C. But when we go to the satellite office, they lance my daughter’s finger with her own lancing device, draw only one drop of blood, and have the results right away. I’ve always wondered what the difference is.

Either way, they give her a sugar-free lollipop when she is done!

By: Scott K. Johnson

Scott K. Johnson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:21:54 +0000

That is too funny that your result (way to go!) matched the box picture! Crazy!

By: Kelly Rawlings

Kelly Rawlings — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:09:59 +0000

Hmmm. My recent experiment with the same product yielded wildly divergent results compared to in-office (note not lab) endo result.

6.7 at endo, 7.6 then 7.4 on the self-check.

Which result to trust? I’m going with the endo (OK, NOT just ’cause it’s lower) but because it matches up to my meter averages and how those typically correlate to my A1Cs.

By: Bev

Bev — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:29:04 +0000

Great post. I tried this several years ago with another home test that I had found on the internet and compared it with a test that I had done a few days later at the lab and it was identical. I’m prediabetic so I check from time to time but haven’t done an A1C since then. A few times when I thought about doing it and asked at different pharmacy’s I would either get a reaction like “you want a what?” to “oh, yeah we did have a few of those but I don’t think we do now, let me get the catalog”. You’ve given me the incentive to get a Bayer home test. At that price it’s much cheaper than going to the doc as my health insurance sucks – my deductible is sky high.

By: k2

k2 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:52:14 +0000

Impressive is right- and the results were instant!
I recently received several a1c tests to try in the mail- but all require the user to mail them to the lab to get the results!
Way to go!
Kelly K

By: Kerri.

Kerri. — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:22:05 +0000

I’m glad the at-home version matched your lab version. I’d love to see others compare their results, too!

(And I just rec’d my A1C result yesterday – you and I are matchy-matchy! 6.3 for the win.)

By: Traci Wennerholm

Traci Wennerholm — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:25:45 +0000

Thanks Amy! Our endo and diabetes educator has continuously toted the fact that these don’t work, so it will be nice to go back and prove that they do! Let me know if you have others that post that have tried it and gotten an accurate test off of both the lab and home A1C. Thanks!

By: Gina

Gina — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:10:22 +0000

Amy,

I was thinking about getting this A1c home test as well, thanks for writing about it. So jealous of your a1c by the way!