Age is just one of the many factors that can impact glucose levels. Children, adolescents, adults, and older adults may have different blood sugar goals.
Keeping track of your blood sugar is a key part of diabetes management.
Diabetes is different for everyone, meaning blood sugar goals may vary for each person. Your goals may also depend on many factors, including age, overall health, time of day, pregnancy, and underlying health conditions.
There’s no official target for blood sugars based on age, but clinical guidelines offer some detail on starting points to consider when deciding on your personalized management plan with your diabetes care team.
Read on to learn more about blood glucose levels by age with a chart offering glucose level guidance, as well as other factors that may influence your glucose levels.
The 2025 standards of care from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) provide a guiding document for people with diabetes, and many healthcare professionals follow these guidelines when working with their patients.
These guidelines provide accepted glucose ranges to aim for.
However, determining a specific glucose value or range isn’t always possible because the ADA and others often rely on the 3-month average test known as the hemoglobin A1C.
Established in the early 1990s, the A1C remains the gold standard of diabetes management, even though it may have limitations, such as not properly accounting for blood sugar variability.
Still, the ADA states in its guidelines that various age groups should generally work toward a specific A1C, though this may also vary on individual circumstances and what you and your diabetes care team feel is best for you.
The ADA uses an “A1C to glucose converter” known as estimated average glucose (eAG) to help guide people with diabetes and their clinicians in deciding what might be best for glycemic targets.
This chart details goals for specific groups of people with diabetes, based on age:
| Age | Before meals (fasting) | After eating |
|---|---|---|
| Children and teens (see guidelines) | 90 to 130 mg/dL | |
| Adults (see guidelines) | 80 to 130 mg/dL | < 180 mg/dL (1 or 2 hours after) |
| Pregnant (see guidelines) | 70 to 95 mg/dL | 110 to 140 mg/dL (1 hour after); 100 to 120 mg/dL (2 hours after) |
| 65 and older (see guidelines) | 80 to 130 mg/dL | |
| Without diabetes (see guidance) | 99 mg/dL or below | 140 mg/dL |
It’s important to remember that age alone isn’t a deciding factor on your blood sugar targets.
According to the ADA, these goals should be considered in a person’s individual management plan alongside other factors, such as overall health and function.
The ADA’s 2023 guidelines give the following examples:
- “In a very young child, safety and simplicity may outweigh the need for glycemic stability in the short run. Simplification may decrease parental anxiety and build trust and confidence, which could support further strengthening of glycemic targets and self-efficacy.”
- “In healthy older adults, there is no empiric need to loosen control; however, less stringent … goals may be appropriate for patients with limited life expectancy or where the harms of treatment are greater than the benefits.”
You should always work with your diabetes care team on deciding your blood sugar targets and where you believe they should be.
In type 1 diabetes (T1D), a person’s pancreas does not produce the insulin they need. In type 2 diabetes (T2D), the body may not make or correctly use insulin anymore.
For T1D or T2D, the goal is to ensure
For example, the ADA changed its glucose level guidance in 2015 to reflect a change in thinking about overtreating and hypoglycemia concerns.
A 2014 study determined that children, adults, and older people might be more prone to overtreating — especially if they use varying doses of insulin or glucose-lowering medications — and they should consider their lowest glucose threshold to be higher.
This prompted the ADA to revise its low threshold to 80 mg/dL.
Time in range
Whatever your personalized target goals may be for blood sugars, it’s important to consider a newer concept known as “time in range.” This is becoming a more recognized standard in determining how you’re managing your diabetes, based largely on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data.
For any of your target glucose ranges, diabetes experts recommend that nonpregnant adults with diabetes try for 70% of their blood sugars to be within their target range. Others may have differing TIR goals, such as over 50% for older adults or those at higher risk of hypoglycemia.
There are many other factors to consider to help determine your blood sugar goals. These may include:
- type of diabetes
- length of time you’ve had diabetes
- whether you have a pattern of high or low blood sugars
- fasting (before eating) levels
- post-prandial (after eating) levels
- whether you can feel low blood sugars (hypoglycemia awareness)
- time of day
- people who are pregnant
- comorbidities (other health conditions)
- if you’re living with certain diabetes-related complications that impact your management
You might also have varying blood sugar goals depending on the many items that can impact your blood sugars. Some of these include:
- exercise and activity levels
- insulin amounts active in your body
- medications you take that might impact glucose levels
- stress levels
According to the ADA, the target blood sugar level for someone older than 65 years is 70 to 180 mg/dL. It’s important to determine your target with a healthcare professional, as it can vary depending on many factors.
Prediabetes is diagnosed when your fasting glucose levels are 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.7 to 6.4 mmol/L) or your post-prandial fasting levels are 140 to 199 mg/dL (7.8 to 11 mmol/L).
A 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) blood sugar level while fasting is considered diabetes, while a 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) blood sugar level measured 2 hours after eating is at the low end of prediabetes.
A 9.5 mmol/L (226 mg/dL) blood sugar level while fasting is considered high for people with or without diabetes. If you have diabetes, the ADA recommends aiming for the range of 4.4 to 7.2 mmol/L (80 to 160 mg/dL).
According to the ADA, a 9.5 mmol/L (226 mg/dL) blood sugar level 1 to 2 hours after eating falls at the upper range of the post-prandial target for people with diabetes.
Maintaining blood sugars (glucose levels) in your target range is a key part of diabetes management.
Age is just one of many factors that might impact your individual goals. Other important factors to consider include your overall health, whether you have other health conditions, and the time of day you eat, among others.
It’s important to work with your healthcare team on your individual diabetes management plan and what target goals might be best for you, no matter your age.
