In recent years, this condition has become an epidemic. In part, this may be due to a lack of parallel guidelines in the medical industry.

“This is likely becoming more common because only the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), not the American Diabetes Association (ADA), has guidelines for people with prediabetes and many health care practitioners do not treat prediabetes,” Perreault says. 

“Prediabetes can be diagnosed based on a fasting glucose blood test, blood glucose test after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), or by A1C (which shows your estimated blood glucose level over three months),” Perreault says.

The tests themselves greatly differ. “The blood glucose tests actually measure the absolute amount of glucose in the blood, whereas the A1C is the percent of red blood cells with glucose stuck to them,” Perreault says.

Understanding these results can throw patients for a loop because each test can have different findings that are not necessarily synonymous. “People can also develop prediabetes based on only one factor,” Perreault says. “For example, fasting vs. post-OGTT glucose, which may tell us something about where the problem is starting in the body.”

To know whether or not to be tested, it’s important to consider common risk factors. These include being overweight, 45 years of age or older, a family history of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle and a previous diagnosis of gestational diabetes. Giving birth to a baby nine pounds or more can increase the risk of developing prediabetes.