A Comparative Assessment of the Glucose Monitor (SD Check GOLD) and Semi-auto Analyzer (Biosystems BTS350) in Measuring Blood Glucose Concentration Among Diabetics, Prediabetics, and Non-diabetics

Abstract

Many chronic diabetics are strongly recommended to do self-monitoring to control glucose metabolism and prevent complications. A practical way to do this is using a glucometer, a device developed to measure glucose concentration from capillary samples in the comfort of the home. It is crucial to test if these glucometers are comparable to the standard laboratory method for glucose analysis. The objective of this study was to determine how well measurements from a glucometer using the SD Check GOLD are correlated with the measurements from a standard semi- auto analyzer such as the Biosystems BTS-350 using samples from a clinical laboratory in Mauban, Quezon. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of 45 randomly selected subjects; 16 diabetics, 14 prediabetics, and 15 non-diabetics. Venipuncture and finger prick samples were obtained, and glucose levels were measured. The mean concentration for the diabetics (n=16) using the glucometer was significantly different from that of the analyzer (174.910 ± 50.75 vs. 192.563 ± 61.49, p= 0.017), and over-estimated the glucose concentration. Similar readings for prediabetics (117.600 ± 13.10 vs 117.600 ± 13.10, p=0.001) and non-diabetics (85.614 ± 7.20 vs 88.930 ± 7.21, p=0.001) were observed. The correlation between the two methods was good and strongly significant (r=0.963, p=0.000). The glucometer used in this study has the tendency to overestimate glucose levels as compared to standard laboratory procedures and, therefore, must be anticipated by diabetic patients, especially those under anti-diabetic medications. The author recommends that further studies be done using multiple glucometer brands and add another group of subjects, Type 1 diabetics.

Keywords: Glucometer, self-monitoring blood glucose, diabetes, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia.