Category: Diabetes

Calculate the score correctly, apply age-appropriate thresholds, and understand when another assessment is needed. A FIB-4 score estimates the probability of advanced liver fibrosis using age, AST, ALT, and platelet count. It is a risk-stratification […]

Understand fatty liver terminology, the purpose of initial blood tests, and when imaging or further assessment may be needed. MASLD blood tests help evaluate liver injury, metabolic risk, and possible alternative causes, but they cannot […]

How AST, ALT, platelets, A1C, lipids, and secondary fibrosis tests work together to guide evaluation and follow-up. MASLD fibrosis risk can be present even when liver enzymes fall within the laboratory reference interval. Metabolic dysfunction-associated […]

How glucose, A1C, islet autoantibodies, C-peptide, and ketones help clarify diabetes type, remaining insulin production, and urgent risk. Adult-onset type 1 diabetes can initially resemble type 2 diabetes. In a slower-progressing presentation often called latent […]

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis caused by deposits of monosodium urate crystals in and around joints. Hyperuricemia means that serum urate—often reported as “uric acid”—is elevated. The two are related, but they are not interchangeable: […]

Glucose results tell you about blood sugar. Kidney, lipid, and liver results answer additional questions about your health. A person can have an improving A1C while urine albumin remains elevated, cholesterol-related risk persists, or liver […]

Fatigue can occur with diabetes, but tiredness by itself cannot tell you whether your blood sugar is high. The most useful clues are the pattern of fatigue, the symptoms that appear with it, your risk […]

Editorial status: Draft for named medical and laboratory review. Product URLs are supported by current Ulta Lab Tests search and internal-link evidence but still require a final in-site canonical check before publication. Obesity is a […]

What is leptin, and should it be tested for weight loss? Leptin is a hormone made mainly by fat cells. It carries information about stored energy to the brain, especially the hypothalamus, and helps coordinate […]

Direct Answer Cortisol helps the body make fuel available during physical or psychological demands. Sustained pathologic cortisol excess, as occurs in Cushing syndrome, can raise glucose, impair insulin action, increase blood pressure, and alter body-fat […]

Direct Answer Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of cardiometabolic risk factors, not a single blood-test result. A healthcare professional commonly identifies it when at least three of five findings are present: increased waist circumference, elevated […]

HOMA2-IR, HOMA2-%B & HOMA2-%S Explained Direct answer: HOMA2 is a nonlinear computer model, not a stand-alone blood test. From compatible fasting glucose with insulin or C-peptide, it estimates insulin sensitivity (HOMA2-%S), the reciprocal insulin-resistance index […]

Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) can add cardiovascular-risk information when the number of atherogenic particles may be underestimated by LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), particularly when triglycerides are above 200 mg/dL or diabetes is present. Calculated remnant cholesterol can […]

Heart failure blood tests help answer different parts of the diagnostic puzzle. BNP or NT-proBNP can show that the heart is under increased wall stress, while kidney, electrolyte, blood-count, iron, thyroid, glucose, lipid, and liver […]

A blood-pressure cuff detects elevated pressure inside your arteries. Hypertension lab tests answer different questions: they can help show whether high blood pressure is affecting the kidneys, whether glucose or lipid abnormalities are adding cardiovascular […]

Type 2 diabetes cannot always be prevented, but many people can substantially lower or delay their risk. The most effective approach is to identify prediabetes early, build sustainable eating and activity habits, improve sleep, avoid […]

Short answer: Falling asleep after eating is not, by itself, a reliable sign of diabetes. Post-meal sleepiness, also called postprandial somnolence, can occur because of a normal early-afternoon dip in alertness, insufficient sleep, a large […]

It is possible to have a high A1C without an established diabetes diagnosis. An A1C of 5.7% to 6.4% is in the prediabetes range. An A1C of 6.5% or higher meets a diabetes diagnostic threshold, […]

An insulin resistance diet is not one prescribed menu. It is a flexible eating pattern that emphasizes nonstarchy vegetables, fiber-rich carbohydrate foods, protein, and unsaturated fats while limiting sugary drinks, refined grains, and heavily processed […]

Diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, develops when insulin is too low for the body's needs and the liver rapidly produces acidic ketones. The resulting crisis is not defined by one abnormal value. Clinicians must establish three […]

Insulin resistance can develop quietly. Early in the process, the pancreas may release more insulin to keep glucose in the usual range. A normal fasting glucose therefore does not always mean the glucose-insulin system is […]

Direct answer: Insulin resistance occurs when muscle, fat, and liver cells respond less effectively to insulin. The pancreas may compensate by releasing more insulin, allowing glucose to remain within the usual range for a time. […]

A1C and 1,5-anhydroglucitol do not compete for the same job. A1C is an established test for diabetes screening, diagnosis, and longer-term monitoring. 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG) is a narrower adjunctive marker that may fall when glucose has […]

Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS), formerly called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), is both a reproductive and metabolic condition. The diabetes connection is important because glucose dysregulation can develop even when fasting glucose, A1C, or body […]

Diabetes blood tests are not interchangeable. In nonpregnant adults, A1C, fasting plasma glucose, and the two-hour plasma glucose value from a 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test can be used for screening and diagnostic support. A […]