International Expert Committee report on the role of the A1C assay in the diagnosis of diabetes

5% are likely at the highest risk for progression to diabetes, but this range should not be considered an absolute threshold at which preventative measures are initiated. * The classification of subdiabetic hyperglycemia as pre-diabetes is problematic because it suggests that all individuals so classified will develop diabetes and that individuals who do not meet these glycemia-driven criteria (regardless of other risk factor values) are unlikely to develop diabetes - neither of which is the case. [...] the categorical classification of individuals as high risk (e.g., IFG or IGT) or low risk, based on any measure of glycemia, is less than ideal because the risk for progression to diabetes appears to be a continuum.