Urine glucose testing: another look at its relevance when blood glucose monitoring is unaffordable

The reliability of urine glucose testing to monitor diabetic control was investigated in patients attending the Diabetic Clinic of the Tikur Anbassa Hospital in Addis Ababa between October 1994 and January 1995 with the aim of utilising it for those with a normal renal threshold who cannot afford the cost of home blood glucose monitoring. Clinically important fasting blood glucose values were taken as those > 180 mg/dl and important urine glucose values as those > or = 0.25% by Clinitest. Capillary blood glucose was determined by visual and metre readings. Urine was tested for glucose by the standard Clinitest method. There were 265 patients, 126 IDDM and 139 NIDDM. Urine glucose corresponded satisfactorily with FBG in 80% of the patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of urine glucose results by Clinitest in comparison with FBG by metre determination were 71%, 90%, 90% and 70% and by visual determination 71%, 86%, 80%, 79% respectively. On the basis of these results we conclude that urine glucose testing by Clinitest provides reliable information in more than 70% of our diabetic patients the majority of whom cannot afford the cost of home blood glucose monitoring.