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Blood Glucometer Accuracy (brands)

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kkapo18

Active Member
Messages
27
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I currently have the following blood glucometers:

- Freestyle neo opium
- Accucheck
- 4SURE

Curious as to what everyone finds to be the most accurate? Seems like I appear to get higher readings on 4SURE compared to accucheck and the freestyle is closer to accucheck readings.
 
Hi - all glucometers have an allowable inaccuracy (within 15% of true value 95% of the time) and I would expect that the inaccuracy extends to individual meters from the same brand as well. In other words as you have no "standard" true value to compare them to, you don't know what the inaccuracy is of any given reading.

I can see the attraction of using the one the gives you the lowest figures, but that might lead to a bit of self-delusion about the true BG level.

My take on this would be to stick with using one meter and minimise the additional variables caused by switching between units.

[Edited to remove ambiguity]
 
kkapo18 said:
I currently have the following blood glucometers:

- Freestyle neo opium
- Accucheck
- 4SURE

Curious as to what everyone finds to be the most accurate? Seems like I appear to get higher readings on 4SURE compared to accucheck and the freestyle is closer to accucheck readings.
Click to expand...
Maybe the “opium” in the Freestyle meter reduces your BG :happy:
Seriously, given they must all comply with the same accuracy standard, you may as well use the one you like best.
i use the Freestype optimum neo because it is small and i don’t have to carry a rattling tub of test strips around with me. Plus it also measures ketones so I don’t need a second meter.
However, I feel guilty about the extra waste from the individually wrapped strips.
 
Sorry @In Response I should have said. It reads low against the pharmacy device. I know the pharmacy device is not in a lab kept at a specific temp, but whatever, it was reading my blood sugar lower than theirs.
 
DIY community uses Contour Next One as the most accurate to baseline CGMs

In my experience there isn't a vast amount of difference with most BG meters - the difference in accuracy tends to be so small it doesn't make enough difference to be worth worrying about (just a personal personal opinion).

Have used the Contour Next One and it did work well - now use the Abbott Freestyle one (as they accept the readings when I'm complaining about issues with my Libre 2 not reading correctly).
 
I have used different ones over the years and currently have a caresense which reads keytones too.

They are all much of a muchness but its easy for me to say as my control is pretty tight so i don't give it much thought.

My libre 2 is another story and whilst i adore it i am aware its not as accurate as the finger prick test.

The libre2 plus finger pricking along with the equation of food exercise and insulin has brought me to controlling my blood sugar better now than i have done in the last 50 years and i'm thrilled to bits with that...

Testing in any form can only be a good thing.......

Tony wanders off whistling a jaunty tune
 
Just a question on this if I may. Does the CGM give you the reading of your blood at that specific time or is there a delay in it , so it’s taking a reading from like 15 minutes ago.
 
winter2342343 said:
Just a question on this if I may. Does the CGM give you the reading of your blood at that specific time or is there a delay in it , so it’s taking a reading from like 15 minutes ago.
Click to expand...
The CGM has a delay because it’s reading from blood that is secreted into the interstitial fluid, rather than directly from your blood when you do a finger prick.
 
Clarification: Modern CGMs don't show current reading from interstitial fluid, they project the trend (if there is a trend) in order to get a more accurate reading most of the time. The downside of this is that it means they tend to over-estimate BG at highs and underestimate BG at lows.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me those are the most critical times! Hence I have not been tempted to use a CGM instead of my BG meter partly because high readings and low readings on a CGM then need to be checked against a BG meter.
 
ianf0ster said:
Clarification: Modern CGMs don't show current reading from interstitial fluid, they project the trend (if there is a trend) in order to get a more accurate reading most of the time. The downside of this is that it means they tend to over-estimate BG at highs and underestimate BG at lows.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me those are the most critical times! Hence I have not been tempted to use a CGM instead of my BG meter partly because high readings and low readings on a CGM then need to be checked against a BG meter.
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Would you do a fingerpick test 2 hours after eating then?
 
ianf0ster said:
Finger prick just before then 2hr after eating is exactly what I did to find out what I can eat and how much of it. After I got into remission I hardly ever need to test anymore.
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It’s what I’m trying to get to, don’t know if I will, but checking in this way has been a revelation to me. The spike from even sourdough bread is ridiculous and I’ve been eating big amounts of bread for 6 months! I just didn’t realise before what effect it was having on me. Sorry to hijack this thread.
 
kkapo18 said:
I currently have the following blood glucometers:

- Freestyle neo opium
- Accucheck
- 4SURE

Curious as to what everyone finds to be the most accurate? Seems like I appear to get higher readings on 4SURE compared to accucheck and the freestyle is closer to accucheck readings.
Click to expand...
I find the meters tend to be reliable, certainly when checked against control solution which should be done every so often. On the other hand the Libra sensors vary quite wildly even allowing for any time lag. I have known them be up to 3 units adrift of the meter, hence why even their TV advery has a warning in the small print, "if in doubt check with a meter ". Considering the situation regarding driving one could get badly caught out, yet the DVLA approved them.
 
Andrew2018 said:
I find the meters tend to be reliable, certainly when checked against control solution which should be done every so often. On the other hand the Libra sensors vary quite wildly even allowing for any time lag. I have known them be up to 3 units adrift of the meter, hence why even their TV advery has a warning in the small print, "if in doubt check with a meter ". Considering the situation regarding driving one could get badly caught out, yet the DVLA approved them.
Click to expand...
Having used Libres for years - agree they can be inaccurate - there is the interstitial fluid delay (for me about 20 mins most of the time) and the length of time they have been inserted.
When fist put in, they suffer (as all CGMs do) from 'Insertion Trauma' which is where the body has a new thing to deal with, so accuracy can be reduced - helps to insert 1-2 days before use and let it settle down a bit.

The CGM are most accurate mid cycle (middle 5-6 days of the 14 days run)

After that, the body has started to heal around the CGM sensor and accuracy declines again.

Use xDrip+ and you can calibrate to get accuracy back - blood test and enter the readings and it levels the discrepancies' back based on trends - much improved readings that way.

While its not perfect and can be inaccurate for high and low - basically you know its low, and know its high (the number is pretty much immaterial at this point most of the time) - they are good enough to loop with - and the loop keeps me in range most of the time.

Life changing stuff - you still need a BG reading, but they increase mid-long term control and safety massively, I'd not go back to BG meters alone (plus I now have the freedom of a fully closed loop and couldn't do that with a BG meter)
 
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