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July 5, 2000

Blood Tests and Insulin Injections

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Question from Cairo, Egypt:

We have purchased a new meter which gets the blood sample from the forearm not the fingers. We have been using another meter for three years now. We use both systems simultaneously, however, the new meter tends to give us readings that are 25-35% higher than our other meter. Would please advise if such discrepancy is expected; if so which one is correct? How should deal with such a problem especially since we use both meters?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

My guess is that your older meter it is whole-blood calibrated. The new meter is plasma-calibrated, and a plasma-calibrated meter will report a reading about 8 to 12 percent higher (or perhaps even more) than a whole-blood calibrated meter.

DM