HbA1c variability increases mortality risk in diabetes

Researchers studied adults with diabetes who had repeated HbA1c tests. HbA1c is a blood test showing average blood sugar over the past two to three months. They compared people whose results stayed fairly steady with those whose results changed a lot between tests. People with more change in their HbA1c readings had a higher risk of dying during follow-up. This was an observational study, so it cannot prove that the swings themselves caused the higher risk.

What this means for you: This does not show that buying a product or forcing HbA1c to stay perfectly flat will extend life. It supports discussing repeated large changes in blood sugar with a clinician, while remembering that other health problems may explain part of the link.