Healthcare professionals tend to stay away from words like “good, bad, or normal” when describing a diagnosis. Rather, there is a percentage range they use to evaluate blood sugars to make a diagnosis of prediabetes, type 1 diabetes, or type 2 diabetes.
An A1c result that comes back below 5.7 percent does not represent a risk for diabetes.
An A1c result that’s between 5.7 and 6.4 percent is considered “prediabetes,” which can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
An A1c that is greater than 6.4 percent is an indication of diabetes.
It should be noted that type 1 diabetes is rarely diagnosed through routine screening with an A1c test.