Type 2 Meter Accuracy issue

[plantagenet]

Up until my last FBG check I was using a Contour Next USB meter, which gave consistent results, but the strips cost an arm and a leg. At my last checkup the DSN said that they were now able to give meters and strips on prescription, but the only meter they could give is the Agamatrix Wavesense Jazz. This meant that I could now get strips and lancets on prescription, so a considerable cost saving.

The problem I have is the accuracy of this meter, I have noticed higher readings since I started with it and it came to a head this morning with a 6.8. Based on my meals yesterday, this was highly suspicious so I dug out my old meter, fortunately I still have a few in date strips, and that produced a reading of 5.2. I then retested with the Jazz and that too gave a reading of 5.2. All this in the space of 5 minutes.

I then did a control test which gave a reading of 7.1, according to the bottle that is within range.

Has anyone else had any issues with this meter?

 

[GrantGam]

Up until my last FBG check I was using a Contour Next USB meter, which gave consistent results, but the strips cost an arm and a leg. At my last checkup the DSN said that they were now able to give meters and strips on prescription, but the only meter they could give is the Agamatrix Wavesense Jazz. This meant that I could now get strips and lancets on prescription, so a considerable cost saving.

The problem I have is the accuracy of this meter, I have noticed higher readings since I started with it and it came to a head this morning with a 6.8. Based on my meals yesterday, this was highly suspicious so I dug out my old meter, fortunately I still have a few in date strips, and that produced a reading of 5.2. I then retested with the Jazz and that too gave a reading of 5.2. All this in the space of 5 minutes.

I then did a control test which gave a reading of 7.1, according to the bottle that is within range.

Has anyone else had any issues with this meter?

All meters will produce different results. The newest ISO standards dictate that 95% of the time, the meters should be +/-15% of your actual BG. That error margin can result in quite a substantial difference in the displayed value vs the actual value. Not only does this mean that different meters will give varying results, but also that one single meter can give varying results that fall within the percentage differential.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose-meters/blood-glucose-meter-accuracy.html

If you take a look at the second table (ISO '13 standards) - you can see that there is a significant variance between the upper bounds of 7mmol/l and the lower bounds of 6mmol/l. Your 6.8mmol/l falls between these measured values and therefore could have actually been anywhere between 5.1mmol/l and 8.2mmol/l. That's assuming that it wasn't churning out any random value that meters can do 5% of the time

Here's a comparison chart for various different brands of meter, and how they performed in tests.

https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2013/07/blood-glucose-meter-accuracy-comparison-chart/

The important thing really is to stick with one meter and identify trends in your BG profile. The results themselves aren't of particular importance, unless they're hyper or hypo.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Yes, I agree entirely with the above post.

Stick to one meter and keep the other as a spare. As your profile says you are diet only the actual numbers don't really matter. All you are looking for are trends and all meters will show these over a period of time in your averages. We all get the odd rogue reading from our meters, and if it is a really unexpected reading (either higher or lower) it is always worth doing a re-test, sometimes 2 re-tests. I had a rogue reading yesterday. It said I was 4.5. I have never been that low at that time of day so I did a re-test and was 5.3. That was much more like it. So you can have inaccurate low readings too!

And how lucky are you that your surgery is now prescribing meters to diet only T2's!!

 

[plantagenet]

Thanks @GrantGam and @Bluetit1802,

Basically, I was happy with the old meter but maybe the lure of the prescription strips was too strong to ignore. I just have to get used to a different trend from the new meter.

 

[GrantGam]

And how lucky are you that your surgery is now prescribing meters to diet only T2's!!

Very lucky! An excellent opportunity to test at your leisure @plantagenet, without having to worry about budgeting for strips

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Yes meters are accurate to +/- 15% so expect that variation