A comparative study of blood glucose level measurement between glucometer and semi autoanalyser

Introduction: There is a direct relationship between glycemic control and risk of systemic complications leading to high morbidity and mortality in diabetes.3 Estimation of blood glucose is the main investigation for the diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus and also for monitoring emergency complications of DM. Glucometers are used for monitoring blood glucose levels in most of the hospitals. There is a need for establishing the reliability of results of glucometer as they also have limitations.6 Our study is undertaken to compare the glucose levels in capillary whole blood by glucometer and glucose levels in venous plasma samples by semi autoanalyser. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted in the department of Biochemistry Osmania General Hospital. 50 Subjects both male and female in the age group of 25 to 65yrs attending out patient department of Medicine at Osmania General Hospital were included in the study. Capillary blood glucose is measured with a glucometer and venous plasma sample glucose is measured with a semi autoanalyser. Statistical analysis is done by mean comparison and student t test. Results: When the two means are compared there is increase in the blood glucose levels measured by using a glucometer (117.76+39.01) when compared to venous blood samples levels measured by using a semi autoanalyzer (108.78+39.05) but there is no statistical significance (P> 0.05). Results showed a variation of 2% to 15% in individual subjects between the blood glucose levels by two methods. Conclusion: Mean glucose levels in capillary blood sample estimated by glucometer is higher than the mean glucose levels in venous plasma samples estimated by semi autoanalyser, but there is no statistical significance. Hence glucometer can be used at bedside as a better alternative for out patient department diagnosis and in emergency situations.