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GlycA

An NMR measure that tracks several proteins that rise with inflammation. Some clinicians use it alongside hs-CRP.

AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert reviewAlso called GlycALOINC 82730-3

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What it is

GlycA is not one protein. It is a signal in an NMR scan of your blood that picks up sugar groups on several 'acute-phase' proteins, which your body makes more of when it is inflamed. The result is reported in µmol/L. Labcorp offers it on its own and with some NMR lipid panels. In healthy people it varies less from week to week than hs-CRP does.

Why it matters

Long-lasting, low-level inflammation is linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. In several large studies, higher GlycA went along with more heart events, more new type 2 diabetes and higher death rates, even after hs-CRP was taken into account. It is also higher in some inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and psoriasis. But it is not specific. Infections, injuries, smoking and extra body weight can all raise it, and US cholesterol guidelines name hs-CRP, not GlycA, as a risk-enhancing marker.

If it’s high

A higher result means your blood carries more of the inflammation-related proteins that GlycA picks up. That points to inflammation somewhere in the body, but not where or why. Labcorp puts results of 400 µmol/L or more in a separate 'High' group. A recent cold, other illness or injury is a common and harmless reason for a temporary rise.

Common causes

  • A recent infection, illness or injury
  • Smoking
  • Extra body weight, insulin resistance, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes
  • Higher triglycerides, which tend to rise along with GlycA
  • Long-term inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or psoriasis

What can help

  • Ask your clinician what may be behind a high result, such as a recent illness, and whether to recheck once you've recovered
  • Not smoking, staying active and keeping a healthy weight are linked to lower inflammation in general
  • Ask whether hs-CRP or other tests would add useful information

Usual ranges

What labs print as the reference range, by who was tested. Ranges differ a little between labs, so the range on your own report is the one your result is judged against.

For adults: up to 400 µmol/L. Source: Labcorp.

  • Adults (this one applies)up to 400 µmol/L

    Source: Labcorp

Labcorp GlycA medical decision limit

  • Below Labcorp's decision limit (Labcorp: Low)below 400 µmol/L
  • At or above Labcorp's decision limit (Labcorp: High)400 and above µmol/L

What can affect your result

  • Recent infection, injury or other inflammation, even a minor one
  • Smoking: in a large US and Brazilian study, current smokers averaged about 20 µmol/L higher than never-smokers after adjustment
  • Body weight, insulin resistance, diabetes and triglycerides
  • Sample type: EDTA plasma reads 3 to 5% lower than serum, and hemolysis can lower the result by more than 10%
  • Method: Labcorp's clinical test and research NMR platforms use different scales and can't be compared
  • Labcorp says fasting isn't needed for the GlycA test. Its fasting rules apply to the lipid and LP-IR results on the same panel.
  • Hemolysis can lower GlycA by more than 10%, and Labcorp rejects hemolyzed samples.
  • The sample type changes the number. EDTA plasma reads about 3 to 5% lower than serum, and an NMR LipoTube reads about 5 to 6% higher than red-top serum (Labcorp).
  • A recent infection, injury or flare of an inflammatory condition can raise GlycA, so timing matters.
  • Research NMR platforms report 'GlycA' about three to four times higher than Labcorp's clinical test, so don't compare numbers between them.

It follows your current level of inflammation. In 23 healthy volunteers sampled weekly for 5 weeks it varied only about 4% from week to week.

When to talk to a clinician

A GlycA result by itself rarely needs urgent action. Talk with a clinician if your result is 400 µmol/L or higher and you also have ongoing joint pain or swelling, fever, unexplained weight loss or lasting fatigue. If you have chest pain or pressure, trouble breathing, or signs of a stroke such as face drooping, arm weakness or trouble speaking, call 911 or your local emergency number, whatever your results are.

Questions you could ask

  • Is GlycA useful for me, or are my other tests enough?
  • Should I use the same lab each time so my results can be compared?
  • Could a recent illness, an injury or my weight be raising this?
  • Should we recheck it after I've recovered, or in a few months?
  • Does this change anything about my heart or blood sugar plan, given my other results?
  • Would hs-CRP or another inflammation test add anything?

Questions people ask

Is GlycA the same as hs-CRP?

No. Both rise with inflammation and they correlate (about 0.5 in one large study), but they measure different things. GlycA blends several proteins and varies less from week to week in healthy people. hs-CRP is the marker that US cholesterol guidelines name.

What does the 400 mean?

It's Labcorp's medical decision limit. Results below 400 µmol/L fall in its 'Low' group and results of 400 or more fall in its 'High' group. It is a cutoff for grouping results, not a diagnosis, and a recent illness can push a result over it.

Do I need to fast?

Labcorp says fasting isn't needed for the GlycA test. If it is ordered with a lipid panel, follow the fasting instructions for the whole panel.

Show the science and sources

For clinicians and researchers

GlycA is the amplitude of a proton-NMR signal near 2.04 ppm from the N-acetyl methyl groups of N-acetylglucosamine residues on the glycans of circulating acute-phase glycoproteins. The main contributors are alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, haptoglobin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, alpha-1-antichymotrypsin and transferrin. Labcorp quantifies it by spectral deconvolution of NMR LipoProfile spectra and reports it in µmol/L. Because it integrates both protein levels and glycosylation, it is a composite marker. In 5,537 MESA participants GlycA correlated with hs-CRP (r = 0.56), fibrinogen (r = 0.46) and IL-6 (r = 0.35). Intra- and inter-assay CVs were 1.9% and 2.6%, and intra-individual variability over 5 weekly samples in 23 healthy volunteers was 4.3%, against 29.2% for hs-CRP. Higher GlycA has been associated with incident cardiovascular events (Women's Health Study, PREVEND, MESA, JUPITER), incident type 2 diabetes, all-cause mortality and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and psoriasis, often with little attenuation after adjusting for hs-CRP. Caveats: much of the clinical development comes from authors employed by the test's developer, no US cholesterol guideline lists GlycA as a risk enhancer (the 2018 guideline names hs-CRP), and its added value for individual decisions is unproven. GlycA from high-volume NMR metabolomics platforms is three- to fourfold higher than Labcorp's clinical assay, partly because of overlapping VLDL and protein signals, and it correlates more strongly with triglycerides, so the two should not be pooled. Labcorp's range is a single medical decision limit of 400 µmol/L. Labcorp's EDTA plasma results run 3 to 5% below serum. The test is a laboratory-developed test that the FDA has not cleared or approved.

LOINC 82730-3 (primary). Specimen: serum-or-plasma.

Sources

  1. GlycA (Labcorp test 123850), Labcorp (2026)
  2. GlycA, sample patient report (test 123850), Labcorp (2016)
  3. GlycA, a novel biomarker of systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk, Journal of Translational Medicine (Connelly, Otvos, Shalaurova, Mehta) (2017)
  4. GlycA: A Composite Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Biomarker of Systemic Inflammation, Clinical Chemistry (2015)
  5. Association Between Smoking and Serum GlycA and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Levels: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil), Journal of the American Heart Association (2017)
  6. Towards clinical application of GlycA and GlycB for early detection of inflammation associated with (pre)diabetes and cardiovascular disease: recent evidence and updates, Journal of Inflammation (2023)
  7. 2018 AHA/ACC/AACVPR/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol: Executive Summary, Circulation (2018)
  8. LOINC 82730-3 GlycA [Moles/volume] in Serum or Plasma, Regenstrief Institute (LOINC)

AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review. Last reviewed 2026-10-03. How we build and check these pages.

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