Glucometer readings

[gettingolder123]

Hello everyone.

I was told by someone that a glucometer reading (finger blood) should be discounted by 10% to arrive at the actual BS reading as taken in a lab (e.g, glucometer reading of 120 corresponds to 108 actual).

Any thoughts?

[Hidden]

At peripheral level sugar is more

[nyonyo in reply to Hidden]

3 weeks ago i pricked my finger before going to lab, glucometer result was 107 and lab result was 112, Gluco Dr AGM 4000

[ramana42 Volunteer]

Glucometer readings are just indicative and useful for establishing trends.They cannot be used for clinical purposes.

[Praveen55 Moderator]

Accuracy of home Glucometer is specified to be + - 15% under worst condition. In practice, it is much better than that. You can consider the accuracy to be + - 10%. That means if lab reading is 100, Glucometer reading will be between 90 and 110.

You can calibrate your meter against the lab test when you take one next.

[gettingolder123 in reply to Praveen55]

Thanks. Will do the calibration next time I go to the lab.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to gettingolder123]

Do you have a CGM?

[gettingolder123 in reply to Activity2004]

CGM? What's that? I guess GM stands for glucose monitor. But C? Continuous? No I don't have one (if CGM is what I think it is)

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to gettingolder123]

Yes, you’re right. It’s a Continuous Glucose Monitoring system. I use one.

[gettingolder123 in reply to Activity2004]

Umm, no I don't think so, at least not just yet. It's hideously expensive for one thing and it's not used much in India for some reason. Thanks anyway, my knowledge is growing and that's a great thing on its own.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to gettingolder123]

It depends on the insurance company that you have for the CGM.

[gettingolder123 in reply to Activity2004]

In India, no insurance company covers CGM as far as I know.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to gettingolder123]

I’m working on the message for you right now.😀

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to gettingolder123]

Please check your private messages on HU now. I have sent a message right now. It’s okay!😀👍

[curious62]

I think the best way is to take the glucometer to the lab with you,test it with the same blood sample which the lab has taken.thus the glucometer is calibrated.it will show the comparison and correction factor to be applied plus or minus.

[gettingolder123 in reply to curious62]

Thank you. I think I will do that next time.

[nyonyo in reply to curious62]

But labs always take blood from our vein, and we always take blood from our finger, so even if it is calibrated it won't be the same next time we prick our finger

[gettingolder123 in reply to nyonyo]

You are right. But the percentage difference can be determined and applied next time the finger is pricked. Then I guess we can get a fairly good idea of the real BS value. Anyway, we do the finger pricking test far more often than the lab test. So I guess it would help.

[sanjubh]

Encouraging if true as finger test glucometer is our only source of monitoring. Unless comparable traditional tests validate this or an expert tells us we may be cautious in discounted reading

[gettingolder123]

You are right too. I guess the best way out is to calibrate the one I have with the lab reading so that i know how much my individual meteris out of true.

Truly grateful for all the guidance I'm getting on HU.

[bapi1951]

I feel glucometer rdg and Lab rdg should be taken at the same time of the day and compare.Accordingly relate with each other.

[gettingolder123 in reply to bapi1951]

Right. I'll do that next time. Thanks

[Hidden]

I live in the UK and have been diabetic for over 10 years and have used a range of Accu Chek machines, the latest and longest used is the "Mobile". I have found the readers to be very accurate and if I use a rogue cassette (for the Mobile) it will show in the raised test levels. I then return the part used cassette to the chemist and I get another free. I also have an HBa1C (full blood test for diabetics) which gives all the relevant readings for a doctor and my blood sugar levels from that test show my records that I keep on a spreadsheet for all of the tests I take with averages dates etc I can view my own trends and even when I have had a treat. only varies plus or minus 0.5 - even my doctor is impressed with my records that go back at least 8 of the years I have been diabetic. Furthermore, having read of clinical trials that can reduce diabetes to the non existent level, I began my own diet regime because I was at least five stone overweight and worried bout the consequences. In six months I had lost enough weight to reduce my insulin (type 2) levels by half. Another six months and I no longer take any medication for diabetes. I am still on a reduced diet, exercise twice a week at a gym and feel great. My wife and I still have treats but not on a daily basis. As an aside - we hear in the news that gun crime in the US is the biggest killer of the population - also in the news this week we hear that fast food outlets kill more people through illness that any other single source! Makes you think.

[makarim]

Most of the esteemed members have expressed that it has to be calibrated.Now number of machines have come and every machines have an error.for example Dr morepan meter reader will not match with accucheck active.So one has to calibrate with standard lab at the same time and calculate .The lab also differ.so one should stick to a particular lab always.That peripheral reading is qualitative only and plus or minus 10 percent.

[farhan_2]

Thr r many factors responsible for this diiference. Any how

Do pricking ang lab test shuld be done at the same time. Only then u will get a good idea.

Cause if u reach for ur lab test after 20 minutes of pricking, the results will surely be different.

[Hidden]

actually I have a difference of ten points when I check one of my left fingers, then I try one of my right hand fingers.

[Praveen55 Moderator in reply to Hidden]

You may get difference in readings from the two samples from the same finger also.

1. Our capillary blood sample which is easy to obtain just with a prick is not homogenised and so it is highly unlikely to give same readings from two samples. Meter is okay.

2. Blood sugar level is a dynamic value because sugar is being transported from the blood stream to various cells.

3. The accuracy of home glucose meter is not as high as the lab tests. If you look at the data sheet, variation can be up to 15 % and still acceptable. Practically error is generally better than that. Agencies are working towards a tighter specs.

Despite all these limitations, home glucometer is an excellent tool to monitor trends in our blood sugar levels at a low cost. It is not a replacement for lab tests.

Lab tests collect much larger sample of blood and then it goes through centrifuge, a process which makes the sample near homogenised before testing to get consistent results. Their accuracy is very good, 2% variation max.

Sorry for the long explanations. I am not involved in selling BG meters.

[sandybrown in reply to Praveen55]

It is the same for home blood pressure monitor and blood cholesterol meter!!!

The only one is blood collection from your arm an then to the lab.