A Comparative Evaluation of Bedside Capillary Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Designed for Hospital Use

Abstract

Capillary blood glucose monitoring devices (CBGMs) that incorporate "wipeless" technology recently have been designed and marketed for hospital use. Our objective was to evaluate three such devices for accuracy and precision, comparing them to a popular device that utilizes older technology and to a reference standard. Blood glucose level was simultaneously determined on the CBGMs and a reference standard. Results were analyzed for precision by performing repeated measurements of a single sample and for accuracy across the entire range of determinations. Clinically relevant subsets of the entire range also were detemnined and arbitrarily defined as low (<60 mg/dL), normal (60 to 140 mg/dL), high (141 to 300 mg/dL), and very high (>300 mg/dL). We found that accuracy and precision of these devices varied considerably. Lack of accuracy was particularly evident upon analysis of the clinically relevant subset ranges of blood glucose levels. Consequently, routine evaluation of CBGMs should include analysis of clinically relevant subset ranges of blood glucose levels. The marked differences in accuracy and precision between CBGMs that are currently