iOS app Android app More  Riva Greenberg   Meter Accuracy Counts
More -- and Less -- Than You Think  Posted: 08/28/2012 6:30 pm
Recently I wrote a post asking, "Why Can't Meters Tell Me My
Blood Sugar?" It was prompted by checking my blood sugar on two
different meters from two different companies, and to my
surprise discovering the results were quite dissimilar.
Compared to a Standard Lab Test  Home meters can't compare to
the standard lab test ("reference standard") they're measured
against. Hospitals are contained environments where elements
like temperature, humidity and altitude are controlled. Trained
technicians run the test on a very costly machine that is
regularly maintained and calibrated several times a day. Lab
tests also analyze a larger blood sample for 60 seconds or more.
As for why different meters give different results, it's largely
due to the meter's calibration and coding and the strips' design
that causes a unique interplay between strip and meter.  The
last wild card in our glucos