[Performance of glucometer used for self-monitoring blood glycaemia in type 1 diabetic patients]

This prospective study assessed the minimum volume of blood, the precision and the accuracy of capillary glycaemia obtained with the use of a digital glucometer. A total of 108 diabetic individuals were enrolled, teenagers and adults of both genders, from the Diabetes Clinic of the Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University, Canada, in 6 months. Glycaemia monitoring was performed using an AccuCheck Compact (Roche) glucometer. For the volume, 6 samples of blood were tested, on three glucometers, using a crossover design (432 results). For accuracy, 100 samples of venous and arterial blood, measured with the glucometer and on a clinical laboratory were compared. For precision, 2 samples of venous blood and solution controls were repeatedly tested. Results demonstrated that a volume of 3.0 microL of capillary blood is sufficient for reproducible results. Measurements of venous and capillary glycaemia did not differ statistically when obtained with the glucometer or from a clinical laboratory (p > 0.05). Comparison of capillary glycaemia measured with the glucometer with venous and capillary glycaemia obtained from the laboratory resulted in a correlation coefficient of 0.9819 and 0.9842, respectively. These observations confirm the accuracy and precision of the tested glucometer. The establishment of a minimum digital punction of 3 microL may have positive impact upon the compliance to auto-monitoring routines.