Published: 18 Feb 2024

We want you to understand what each test on this site is for, but because we can't be aware of all the factors that could affect your test results, we can't interpret the results without more information.
If you need further explanation of your results, you should talk to your health care provider. This remains true even for those tests, such as the components of the basic metabolic panel (BMP), for which we have included reference ranges. Treatment is required to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and other long-term complications of diabetes.
In this situation, it is a value above a particular limit that provides information rather than a value that falls within or outside a set range of numbers.Decision limits are values that represent either the upper or lower quantity of an analyte that are consistent with a disease state or indicate a need for treatment.
Blood glucose is an example of an analyte for which decision limits have been established and are widely used by health care providers. Remember, a reference range is merely a guide for your health care provider. He or she will interpret the result in the context of your medical history and current presentation - something that no website is yet able to do.
For a small number of tests, long-term studies of certain disease processes have led to the establishment of decision limits that are more useful than reference ranges in determining clinical outcomes and guiding treatment decisions. We want you to be informed, but we don't pretend to take the place of communication between you and your health care provider. For adults in a routine setting in which fasting blood glucose testing is done to detect type 2 diabetes, a fasting glucose level of 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L) or above, obtained on more than one testing occasion, indicates diabetes.

Reference ranges are based on the normal test results of a large group of healthy people. Sometimes, healthy people get results outside the reference range, while people with health problems can have results in the normal range. If your results fall outside the reference range, or if you have symptoms despite a normal result, you will likely need more testing.
Your lab results may also include one of these terms:
Negative or normal, which means the disease or substance being tested was not found
Positive or abnormal, which means the disease or substance was found
Inconclusive or uncertain, which means there wasn't enough information in the results to diagnose or rule out a disease. The range helps show what a typical normal result looks like.
But not everyone is typical. Lab results are often shown as a set of numbers known as a reference range. If you get an inconclusive result, you will probably get more tests.
Tests that measure various organs and systems often give results as reference ranges, while tests that diagnose or rule out diseases often use the terms listed above.A reference range may also be called 'normal values.' You may see something like this on your results: 'normal: 77-99mg/dL' (milligrams per deciliter).