Tracking your blood sugar (glucose) levels is a critical part of managing diabetes.
It not only lets you know how your body is responding to food, medication and exercise, but also helps to prevent blood sugar levels from getting dangerously high, or low.
This in turn reduces your risk of long-term complications associated with diabetes and helps you to make informed decisions about your overall health.
What are normal blood sugar levels by age?
Everyone is different, and what is normal for one person may be different for someone else. These variations are due to a number of individual factors, such as your health, the type of diabetes you have, underlying medical conditions, time of day, as well as your age.
Because many factors influence blood sugar levels, your diabetes care team will consider them when setting age-appropriate targets and design a care plan that is personalized to you.
With this in mind, clinical guidelines have been developed that offer guidance on glucose ranges for people with diabetes.
These guidelines look at A1C levels by age. An A1C test – also called the hemoglobin A1c or HbA1c test – measures your average blood sugar levels over the last few months. The result is reported as a percentage, and the higher the result, the higher your blood sugar levels have been on average.
Normal Blood Sugar Levels by Age
The guidelines below give goal blood sugar levels by age group:
|
Age |
Before eating (fasting) |
After eating |
|
Children (Under 18 years) |
90 to 130 mg/dL |
|
|
Adults |
80 to 130 mg/dL |
< 180 mg/dL (after 1 or 2 hours) |
|
Older adults (aged 65 and above) |
80 to 130 mg/dL |
|
|
Pregnant women |
70 to 95 mg/dL |
110 to 140 mg/dL (after 1 hour) 100 to 120 mg/dL (after 2 hours) |
|
No diabetes |
99 mg/dL or under |
139 mg/dL or under |
It is important to remember that age isn’t the only factor to consider when looking at your blood sugar level goals. Individual factors, such as your health and any underlying conditions, will affect this.
Your diabetes care team will work closely with you to advise you on your blood sugar level goals as part of your overall diabetes management plan.