Precision of office-based blood glucose meters in screening for gestational diabetes

OBJECTIVE: Is the precision of currently available glucose meters adequate for gestational diabetes screening? STUDY DESIGN: We performed a prospective cohort study of 62 gravid women and compared the precision of three glucose meters to laboratory standard technology. RESULTS: The HemoCue coefficient of variation was sufficiently low in venous whole blood and plasma and capillary whole blood and plasma (3.0%, 1.8%, 2.8%, and 2.3%, respectively) to allow use in gestational diabetes screening. The One-Touch II coefficient of variation was sufficiently low in capillary whole blood (2.7%) to allow use in gestational diabetes screening but was too high in venous whole blood and plasma and in capillary plasma (3.6%, 7.8%, and 5.7%). The ExactTech coefficient of variation was too high in venous or capillary whole blood (5.4% and 8.1%) for use in gestational diabetes screening and does not analyze plasma samples. CONCLUSION: The HemoCue meter in venous and capillary whole blood and plasma and the OneTouch II meter in capillary whole blood have coefficients of variation low enough for gestational diabetes screening.