April 22, 2000
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections
Question from Liverpool, England:
I am a first year medical student doing an investigation into why there is often a discrepancy between home blood glucose meters and the lab generated results. So far all I have managed to find is there is often user mistakes yet I am assured there is much more to it than this and I was wondering if you could shed some light on the subject.
Answer:
The main reason for discrepancies is user technique. However, nowadays, with good technique, there is very little difference between meters and lab methods.
One thing to be aware of is whether whole blood, capillary blood or plasma is used in the comparisons, as these can give different readings. The main differences arise when measurements are taken at the extremes of the reference range, and then the meters cannot be relied upon.
JS
