Cited by 684Diabetes Management and ResearchDiabetes Management and EducationDiabetes Treatment and Management

Glucose management indicator (GMI): a new term for estimating A1C from continuous glucose monitoring

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Bergenstal, Richard M., Beck, Roy W., Close, Kelly L., Grunberger, George, Sacks, David B., Kowalski, Aaron, Brown, Adam S., Heinemann, Lutz +4 more·2018·Diabetes Care

Abstract

While A1C is well established as an important risk marker for diabetes complications, with the increasing use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to help facilitate safe and effective diabetes management, it is important to understand how CGM metrics, such as mean glucose, and A1C correlate. Estimated A1C (eA1C) is a measure converting the mean glucose from CGM or self-monitored blood glucose readings, using a formula derived from glucose readings from a population of individuals, into an estimate of a simultaneously measured laboratory A1C. Many patients and clinicians find the eA1C to be a helpful educational tool, but others are often confused or even frustrated if the eA1C and laboratory-measured A1C do not agree. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration determined that the nomenclature of eA1C needed to change. This led the authors to work toward a multipart solution to facilitate the retention of such a metric, which includes renaming the eA1C the glucose management indicator (GMI) and generating a new formula for converting CGM-derived mean glucose to GMI based on recent clinical trials using the most accurate CGM systems available. The final aspect of ensuring a smooth transition from the old eA1C to the new GMI is providing new CGM analyses and explanations to further understand how to interpret GMI and use it most effectively in clinical practice. This Perspective will address why a new name for eA1C was needed, why GMI was selected as the new name, how GMI is calculated, and how to understand and explain GMI if one chooses to use GMI as a tool in diabetes education or management.

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  • Mean glucose was 154±26.8 mg/dL, corresponding to an HbA1c of approximately 7%.

    “The mean glucose of 154±26.8 mg/dL corresponded with an HbA1c of approximately 7%.14”

    From Clinical utility of the twiist Automated Insulin Delivery System: first study with twiist (2026) · cites this paper as [14]

    In “How Is GMI Calculated?” (page unavailable), the paper gives a formula under which a mean glucose of 154 mg/dL yields a GMI of approximately 7%. It does not report the stated 154±26.8 mg/dL mean and variation, and it cautions elsewhere that GMI can differ from laboratory-measured HbA1c. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Using the standardized report, clinicians can address glucose variability or use GMI to discuss discrepancies between CGM-derived glucose exposure and laboratory-measured A1C.

    “Using the standardized report the clinician can also address glucose variability (e.g., %CV metric) (75) or use glucose management indicator (GMI) metric (43) to discuss the possible discrepancies noted in glucose exposure derived from CGM data versus the individual's laboratory-measured A1C (40; 76).”
  • If HbA1c is lower than a concurrent GMI measure, HbA1c can be interpreted to underestimate average blood glucose by the difference in measurements, allowing adjustment of HbA1c targets accordingly.

    “For example, if HbA1c is lower than a concurrent GMI measure, the HbA1c can be interpreted to underestimate average blood glucose by the difference in measurements, allowing adjustment of HbA1c targets accordingly. 230,231”

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Authors
Bergenstal, R. M., Beck, R. W., Close, K. L., Grunberger, G., Sacks, D. B., Kowalski, A., Brown, A. S., Heinemann, L., Aleppo, G., Ryan, D. B., Riddlesworth, T. D., & Cefalu, W. T.
Affiliations
  • Park Nicollet Health Services (US)
  • Jaeb Center for Health Research (US)
  • The diaTribe Foundation, San Francisco, CA
  • Grunberger Diabetes Institute (US)
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • Breakthrough T1D (US)
  • Close Concerns (United States) (US)
  • Science Consulting in Diabetes, Neuss, Germany
  • Northwestern University (US)
  • Sacred Heart Hospital (US)
  • American Diabetes Association (US)
Corresponding author
Bergenstal, Richard M.
Venue
Diabetes Care
Published
2018-09-17
Volume
41
Issue
11
Pages
2275-2280
ISSN
  • 0149-5992 (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-5548
OpenAlex
W2891178783
Cited by
684
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 79 · 2025: 95 · 2024: 114 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 95 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 75 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 6
FWCI
43.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Diabetes Care (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Sanofi
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (UC4DK108611)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Education
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Treatment and Management
Keywords
glucose management indicator, continuous glucose monitoring, HbA1c, mean blood glucose, nomenclatural changes, diabetes management, diabetes education
MeSH terms
Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Health Education, Health Status Indicators, Glycated Hemoglobin, Humans, Terminology as Topic, Statistics as Topic, Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring

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