Reliability of Portable Blood Glucose Meters for Using in Small Animal Hospital

The objective of this study was to compare blood glucose concentrations obtained from two portable blood glucose meters (PBGM), Sure-step (TM) and Accucheck (TM), with reference method, glucose oxidase test. Blood samples were collected from dogs consulting in Small Animal Hospital, Chulalongkorn University. A hundred and thirty four blood samples were collected in the study. Blood glucose concentrations were measured by using Sure-step (TM), Accucheck (TM) and glucose oxidase method respectively in all samples. The intra-class correlation was determined to evaluate the correlation between each PBGM and glucose oxidase test. The range of the blood glucose concentrations was 31.47 to 347.49 mg/dl. Overall intra-class correlation showed significant (p<0.05) in comparison of two PBGMs with the standard method (r=0.847 and 0.839 for Sure-step (TM) and Accucheck (TM) respectively). Range of 15% deviation from reference method-value was accepted to access PBGMs clinically. The greater percentage of sample in particular range was observed in Sure-step (TM) (42.86%) rather than Accucheck (TM) (22.56%). In conclusion, although commercially available PBGM provided blood glucose concentration reasonably close to those obtained with reference method, Sure-step (TM) seemed to be more accurate than Accucheck (TM). However the utilization of these devices in terms of clinical decision could lead to erroneous in some cases.