Many people fail to find their own blood sugar control goals

My fasting blood sugar is around 7-8. Is this blood sugar high?

In fact, not everyone with diabetes has the same blood sugar control requirements. Today I will tell you the blood sugar control goals of different groups of people to see if you are too strict or too loose with yourself?

Recommendations for glycemic control in adults without gestational diabetes:
Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) <7%
Pre-meal blood sugar 4.4~7.2mmol/L
Postprandial blood sugar <10mmol/L

This is a relatively recognized standard in the medical community at home and abroad, but everyone’s situation is different, including drug compliance, hypoglycemia, complications, etc. Therefore, the sugar control standards implemented vary according to different situations.

People with diabetes who need strict control
Young and middle-aged people with diabetes, those with short disease duration, long life expectancy, and no obvious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and those who only use lifestyle intervention and metformin treatment can have relatively strict control.

Reference standards: fasting blood glucose 4.4-6.1mmol/L, postprandial blood glucose <8.0mmol/LHbA1c<6.5%, try to keep HbA1c<6.0%. Non-critically ill patients treated with insulin should have pre-meal blood sugar <7.8mmol/L as much as possible, and random blood glucose <10.0mmol/L, HbA1c<7.0%. Appropriate relaxation for people with diabetes: ① Elderly people with diabetes who are over 70 years old can be appropriately relaxed.

Reference standards: fasting blood glucose 6.0-7.0mmol/L; 2-hour postprandial blood glucose 8.0-10.0mmol/L; HbA1c between 6.5% and 7.0%. Elderly patients over 80 years old can be appropriately relaxed based on the above.

② Diabetes patients with advanced microvascular or macrovascular complications, limited life expectancy, multiple complications, long duration of diabetes, and frequent hypoglycemia. In these cases, the blood sugar control goals of diabetics must be relatively relaxed.

Reference standard: fasting blood sugar should be maintained at 7.0-9.0mmol/L; postprandial blood sugar should be 8.0-11.0mmol/L; HbAlc should be 7.0%-7.5%.

Of course, specific control standards need to be implemented based on individual circumstances and recommendations from the corresponding attending physician.

Standards for children with diabetes

Most children and adolescents have type 1 diabetes. Although they are young, the course of the disease is not necessarily short, and some even have brittle blood sugar that is easy to fluctuate. In addition, children's daily activities vary greatly, and they lack awareness and response measures to hypoglycemia. If they pursue blood sugar standards too much, they are not only prone to hypoglycemia, but may also affect their growth and development due to insufficient nutritional intake. Therefore, without affecting the normal growth and development of children, the blood sugar control goals for children with diabetes should be appropriately relaxed. ​

Reference standards: 5.0~10.0mmol/L before meals; 5.0~11.1mmol/L before going to bed; HbA1c <8.5%. However, for those aged 13 years and above, it is recommended that HbA1c <7.5%. If there is no hypoglycemia, try to keep HbA1c <7.0%.

Control Goals for Pregnant Diabetics There are also different control standards for diabetics who experience hyperglycemia before and after pregnancy. If you are planning to get pregnant, you should strictly control your blood sugar target: pre-meal blood sugar should be controlled at 3.3-5.3mmol/L; post-meal blood sugar should be below 7.8mmol/L; HbA1c <6.5%. If insulin is used, it can be appropriately relaxed, HbA1c <7.0%, to prevent hypoglycemia.

If diabetes is detected during pregnancy, the ideal target value is HbA1c <6.0%, blood sugar before meals, before bed and at night should not be higher than 5.3mmol/L, and the peak value 2 hours after a meal should not be higher than 6.7mmol/L. It is worth noting that during this period, post-meal blood sugar control is more important than pre-meal blood sugar control.

The blood sugar control goals for people with diabetes are not one-size-fits-all, but should be determined based on each person’s specific situation. Based on general control objectives, the principle is to formulate individualized control objectives. In short, good blood sugar control should start with setting reasonable blood sugar control goals.