Most accurate glucose meter

Firstly there are some worrying replies on here, with claims being made that have no evidence from those making the claim. What tests have they carried out to ensure any product they have used is accurate. There is a big difference between a Laboratory study costing millions and that done in someone's bathroom
Also as some people have stated, there is the human error side. Have hands been washed APPROPRIATELY. We're the strips used correctly?
Also your blood is different all round your body
There is a clinical paper called Freckmann that is an independent analysis of several blood meters - however it is now rather old
Blood glucose meters are supposed to have results to within 15% of a hospital analyser - there is another parameter for lower end results. However not all meters have in the past met this criteria.

Bluetit1802 said:

The Libre is not accurate. It usually reads lower than finger pricking, although some sensors read higher. They vary. Insulin users are warned to check with finger prickers before injecting, and the DVLA won't accept the readings for driving purposes. They need to be cross checked against finger prickers to find a sort of average amount by which they read lower, then you can make your own mental adjustments. They are fine for seeing what happens between finger pricks and watching trends. Insulin users find the arrows very useful.

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wheres the evidence for the things you say - what are you measuring things against?
Most of what is said is inaccurate

Bluetit1802 said:

There are many of on this forum that have never taken medication at all, yet are still diabetic. Only non-diabetic levels pre and post meal, plus HbA1c results will tell you if you are diabetic or not.

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I disagree because my pre and post meal levels as well as my hba1c are all non diabetic... not even close to pee diabetic. I am not on medication however if I slip up or give up my diet I KNOW my Bgl will rise and I will be in the danger zone.

My consultant said they wanted me to stay on the diabetic list as "well controlled with diet"... I am still diabetic but just don't have a problem with Bgl while I stay on my diet.

Glucobabu said:

What I find quite odd is that when you do a second test immediately after the first one, on the same meter, you often get quite a different result! The gap tends to get bigger with higher readings! Anyone with similar experience?

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It could be you tested plasma first instead of blood... the plasma is 15mins behind blood and looks like blood too!

Britishbob said:

Firstly there are some worrying replies on here, with claims being made that have no evidence from those making the claim. What tests have they carried out to ensure any product they have used is accurate. There is a big difference between a Laboratory study costing millions and that done in someone's bathroom
Also as some people have stated, there is the human error side. Have hands been washed APPROPRIATELY. We're the strips used correctly?
Also your blood is different all round your body
There is a clinical paper called Freckmann that is an independent analysis of several blood meters - however it is now rather old
Blood glucose meters are supposed to have results to within 15% of a hospital analyser - there is another parameter for lower end results. However not all meters have in the past met this criteria.

Click to expand...

With most meters they supply a control substance, this mimics blood and will give a reading which is you read the booklet that comes with it will say what the result should be for the testing substance.

Also ALL electrical equipment should be calibrated at least once a year anyway... so I would say that a new test machine is actually more accurate than an nhs machine (depending on when that machine was calibrated)
Also using multiple machines should give you an idea (mean) for what Bgl are... as long as we are in the ball park then that is good. We can then make changes to our diet or medication (if you take) based on those readings to keep excellent control of Bgl.
You can also look at the mean result on the test machine and compare that to your hba1c...
There is always going to be room for error and even nhs equipment is not 100% accurate.
Personally I would rather know what is going on with my body so I can rectify any hiccups than sit worrying for a year and still have no idea what is wrong with me and how to make myself better!

Bluetit1802 said:

The Libre is not accurate. It usually reads lower than finger pricking, although some sensors read higher. They vary. Insulin users are warned to check with finger prickers before injecting, and the DVLA won't accept the readings for driving purposes. They need to be cross checked against finger prickers to find a sort of average amount by which they read lower, then you can make your own mental adjustments. They are fine for seeing what happens between finger pricks and watching trends. Insulin users find the arrows very useful.

Click to expand...

Britishbob said:

wheres the evidence for the things you say - what are you measuring things against?
Most of what is said is inaccurate

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Which parts are inaccurate please? I need to know so I don't repeat what I said.

busydiabeticmum said:

I disagree because my pre and post meal levels as well as my hba1c are all non diabetic... not even close to pee diabetic. I am not on medication however if I slip up or give up my diet I KNOW my Bgl will rise and I will be in the danger zone.

My consultant said they wanted me to stay on the diabetic list as "well controlled with diet"... I am still diabetic but just don't have a problem with Bgl while I stay on my diet.

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Yes, I worded it badly. I am in agreement that most T2s that have "reversed" diabetes will probably always be diabetic and will always need to continue with a suitable diet or could be back where they started.

Bluetit1802 said:

The Libre is not accurate. It usually reads lower than finger pricking, although some sensors read higher. They vary. Insulin users are warned to check with finger prickers before injecting, and the DVLA won't accept the readings for driving purposes. They need to be cross checked against finger prickers to find a sort of average amount by which they read lower, then you can make your own mental adjustments. They are fine for seeing what happens between finger pricks and watching trends. Insulin users find the arrows very useful.

Click to expand...

The Libre system is NOT available on the NHS at present and if you want to fund it your selve ,the sensers cost £60. 00each and lasts for 14 days

Bluetit1802 said:

Yes, I worded it badly. I am in agreement that most T2s that have "reversed" diabetes will probably always be diabetic and will always need to continue with a suitable diet or could be back where they started.

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I think all diabetics would love to eat like other people while at the same time keeping the good Bgl without needing medication or having any side effects... I think it is a wishful thinking.

It is not really the meters themselves that are inaccurate but the measuring technique. Even a very cheap digital voltmeter will have an accuracy of around 1%.

Home glucose meters use an enzyme in the test strip which reacts with the blood sample to generate a current which is amplified and translated in the meter to an approximation of the glucose concentration. As the method does not measure glucose directly, but its reaction with the enzyme, it inherently has limited accuracy. Not to mention the possible human errors in obtaining the sample.

The Libre measures the glucose in interstitial fluid (I don’t know by what method) and then uses algorithms to estimate the glucose in blood, so is further removed from direct measurement and accuracy.

So unless a new technology is invented I don’t expect home meters to become more accurate any time soon, in fact I am surprised how well they work.

I recently received some new strips for my TEE2 meter, so using the same drop of blood I compared it to my SD Codefree. I was amazed when they both measured 6.4, maybe they were just the same by chance.