What is each line on the lab report about?

The lab report in my hand has fourteen lines. I recognize two: HbA1c and fasting glucose. I can read the other twelve by name, not meaning. I tried to pull them apart.

HbA1c describes a period. Section 6 of the ADA Standards of Care 2026 says HbA1c reflects average glycemia over approximately 2–3 months; it also calls it an indirect measure some conditions can affect. Fasting glucose is the opposite: the value when blood was drawn.

Creatinine is on the kidney side. The same guideline’s Section 11 pairs two measures for kidney screening in diabetes: urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). eGFR is usually calculated from serum creatinine, so creatinine and eGFR often sit one under the other on the sheet.

The same section explains why one line says little: biological variability in urinary albumin excretion is high, so a single abnormal specimen does not by itself count as albuminuria. The guideline states how many specimens are needed; my clinician applies that to my sheet.

The lipid panel’s LDL, HDL and triglyceride lines and, for type 1 diabetes, TSH appear among the same guideline’s Section 4 assessments. They are not glucose lines.

What helped me was seeing my HbA1c results in date order, not decoding each line. The seven kinds I keep in ForMyGluco are mine, not the guideline’s: HbA1c, fasting glucose, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, creatinine, TSH. After the trial, adding new entries requires a subscription. The app marks no lab line as normal or high; it holds the name, the number, the record’s date.

My appointment questions came from that: which lines here matter to me, does this value mean something alone or only when repeated? My clinician answers them; I carry the questions.