Intravenous home blood glucose monitoring

This study examines the correlation between the blood glucose concentration estimated by diabetic subjects at home using a Chemstrip bG reagent strip, and the blood glucose concentration subsequently measured in a Beckman glucose analyzer. Blood samples were obtained by eight diabetic patients throughout a period of 30 days in the home environment. Using the technique of i.v. blood withdrawal, a 250-microliters portion of each blood sample was stored for later physician verification of the blood glucose concentration. The preservative in these stored sampled inhibited the utilization of glucose in the blood samples for at least 30 days. Our results demonstrate that in the home setting, a highly significant correlation (R = 0.85, P less than 0.001) can be obtained between the plasma glucose concentration as estimated by Chemstrip bGs and the blood glucose concentration as estimated by Beckman automated glucose analysis. However, within the diabetic group, marked variation existed in correlation coefficients such that the highest correlation coefficient was 0.94, and the lowest was 0.72. Furthermore, the use of Chemstrip bGs tends to influence a patient's reading toward the preselected color chart of glucose concentration on the Chemstrip bG label. We conclude that i.v. home blood glucose monitoring provides a method whereby the physician can assess the accuracy with which his patients can monitor their blood glucose concentrations in a home environment.