The unit of use with CareSens and other brands of blood glucose meters in New Zealand is mmol/L. This is the concentration of glucose in venous blood plasma that is calculated from the measurement of glucose in capillary blood from the sample taken, usually from your fingers. This is a measurement of plasma glucose in mmol/L at a specific moment in time.

When you visit your doctor, it is likely that you will have your HbA1c measured by your local medical laboratory. This measures the average of your venous blood glucose concentration over the previous 90 days. This is now recorded as mmol/mol; previously it was measured as %. So HbA1c measures the average of all the varying plasma glucose levels over the previous 90 days and averages out all the lower and higher plasma glucose levels.

The measurement of HbA1c is a different measurement from a blood glucose measurement performed at the same time with your meter. They are measuring different things.

For further information see www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/h/hba1c-testing/