DiabetesDiabetes mellitus, SugarDiabetes is a condition in which blood glucose stays too high, either because the body makes too little insulin or because it has stopped responding to it. Pakistan has one of the highest rates in the world, and a large share of people with it do not yet know.
Prediabetes
Also known as Borderline diabetes, Impaired glucose tolerance, IGT
Blood sugar that is higher than normal but not yet high enough to be called diabetes. It usually causes no symptoms at all, and it can often be reversed.
Prediabetes means your blood sugar sits above the normal range but below the line doctors use to diagnose . An between 5.7% and 6.4%, or a between 100 and 125 mg/dL, falls in this band.
It matters because it is the last easy stage. Most people with prediabetes feel completely well and have no idea, which is why it is usually found on a test done for some other reason.
Why it is worth knowing
Without change, a substantial proportion of people with prediabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes. With change — weight loss, walking most days, less refined carbohydrate — many return to normal blood sugar and stay there.
Related terms
- HbA1cGlycated haemoglobin, A1cHbA1c measures the proportion of haemoglobin that has sugar stuck to it, which reflects the average blood glucose over roughly the past three months. It needs no fasting and is used both to diagnose diabetes and to judge how well it is controlled.
- Fasting blood sugarFBS, Fasting plasma glucoseFasting blood sugar is the glucose level in blood after at least eight hours without food or sweetened drink. It is the simplest and cheapest test for diabetes, and one of the three that can diagnose it.
- Insulin resistanceWhen the body's cells stop responding properly to insulin, so the pancreas must make more and more of it to keep blood sugar normal.