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If monitor/strips are +/- 15% out - does this not make a mokery of even testing...

madusmacus

Well-Known Member
Messages
309
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Say my BG really 5.5mmol

my meter might say 6.4 and I would be unhappy and stressed
or it might say 4.7 and I would be happy and delighted

of course this gets a lot worse the higher your BG really is :¬(

I tested 3 times and get stuff like 6.3 5.1 5.4 etc (freestyle lite)
and I get this type of rubbish almost anytime I decide to test

also some meters are total pants and are +/-20 and worse

Hmmmmmmm

well I guess it works to detect LARGE BG swings

Lets not get me started on BP monitors too - hehehehehehe - spawn of the devil :¬)
 
A lot of people get meters that have all the bells and whistles, but not many people mention that they have got a meter based on its accuracy and precision.

My research has led me to find that the MyLife Pura is the most accurate. You can see that the strips are obviously different to other brands and I've noticed that it is much more precise than my previous Contour meter. The readings are always consistent.
 
Madus, I never take the numbers of my meter as carved in stone. Instead I take the numbers to detect trends. A number may change within minutes.

If the number is way, way off what I would have expected, I will rewash my hands and try a second time - have found that this may often do the trick. There may have been residues on your finger (even soap or a bit of water). But I will only retry if I sense that the number is way off my expectations. Strips are expensive around here, and I need to pay them myself.

annelise
 
I had a long discussion with a manufacturer about accuracy a while ago.

In essence, the tolerance is allegedly set to be within a "so what" tolerance. In other words, based an a reading at either end of the legally allowable +/-20%, would any action required be drastically different?

Applying that to a true reading of, say, 5.5, what difference would it actually make to your treatment (action and treatment, not feelings)?

Whilst not ideal, I much prefer having a pretty good idea where I am over muddling along for months at a time between HbA1c tests.

Clearly things differ a bit for T1s, but probably only inasmuch that they could eat an unnecessary jelly baby at the lower end, or make a modest correction for a higher than actual reading.
 
Thanks all for the info :¬) as usual

I must learn to not care about +/- 20%
I will now see 6.7 to be as good as 5.2 and move on

There is probably no point quoting or beliving your readings
Only take notice if detect a change greater than +/- 20%
then you have to act on it

Shame :¬)

Sam ill take a look at "MyLife Pura" later :¬)
 
Another way of looking at the meters is that they are 80% accurate at a minimum which sounds a little better lol ! For home testing purposes, they do the job
 
I've found that my meter (Freestyle Freedom Lite) is reasonably consistent within a single batch of test strips.
However it does pay to remember that the results are not highly accurate.

I suppose the most important thing is seeing a High or Low reading and being pragmatic about the rest., just looking for trends.
 
I have learned that the trend is my friend, although there's no getting away from the fact that most of us crave the lower numbers. That's called human nature.
 
I'll take +/- 20% accuracy any time to keep help me keep control.

In the dark ages, pre home glucose monitoring, I used to use a test tube and chemical reagent tablet to test for glucose in my urine. That was about +/- 4 hours accurate, slightly less useful than reading tea leaves!
 
Found my code free to be very consistent (±0.2 only) as long as I have washed my hands. If I can't wash them know I don't bother testing.
 
my meter might say 6.4 and I would be unhappy and stressed
or it might say 4.7 and I would be happy and delighted
Click to expand...
Which is why the normal BG goals are much more sensible than what you suggest - adjust basal insulin if BG readings are out of range three days in a row for example.
 
Most meters are +/- 15% not 20%. They are reasonably consistent with a particular pack of strips i.e. a specific meter doesn't vary that much but you can get that variation between different meters. The absolute level isn't as important as the comparison between measures on the same meter. I also have a MyLife Pura meter given to me by the surgery which is +/- 15%. The thing I have to take account of is the lower reading My OneTouch Ultra reads but that is also within +/- 15%
 
Keep in mind accuracy is different to consistency. Accuracy is how much it differs from a lab test. Consistency is how closely the meter matches its own results from one test to the next. Consistency is the main requirement for detecting trends and changes, and even doing corrections if you don't correct aggressively. Meter consistency is much better than */- 20%.

Accuracy only matters for absolute levels, so only matters for trying for tight control. And the 20% accuracy is on a bell curve. Most of the time a meter rated at +/- 20% will be much more accurate than that. You could think of 20% as the "worst case" error rather than the typical error (not quite true but roughly the right idea).

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
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