Prediabetic? Probably no need to worry

 My husband was diagnosed with prediabetes decades ago. He’s never gotten diabetes. Prediabetes is diagnosed through a blood test that measures blood sugar levels over the past two to three months. The test is called A1C and the results are given as a percentage. Normal is 5.7. Prediabetes begins at 5.8. Diabetes is defined as 6.5. (My husband doesn’t know what his percentage is.)

Anyhow, the point is that new studies have shown that older people who were diagnosed as prediabetic were far more likely to have their blood sugar levels return to normal than to progress to diabetes. A study of 3,412 people, which began in the 1980s, found that prediabetes was rampant—three-quarters were given that diagnosis—but, when looking at the now 71- to 90-year-old people, only 8 or 9 percent developed diabetes. Because we old people often produce less insulin later in life, we often have slightly above normal blood sugar readings, so being prediabetic isn’t unusual.

As one of the researchers noted, “in most older adults, prediabetes probably shouldn’t be a priority. We’re not seeing much risk in these individuals.” Getting a diagnosis of prediabetes creates needless anxiety for us and “medicalizes” a normal part of aging. If you want to become more anxious, go to the website doihaveprediabetes.org and take the test. I did that. It asks your age, your weight, whether you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, and so forth. My results: “You are at risk and are likely to have diabetes.” You’d probably get the same results. Don’t worry about it.

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