EVALUATING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN BETACHEK BLOOD GLUCOSE STRIPS AND STANDARD METHOD.

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is the most common cause of renal failure, blindness and non traumatic amputation. ADA recommends that prevention of the complications of diabetes mellitus is possible by monitoring the control of blood glucose levels.

Methods: The Betachek strip, which is produced in Australia, determines the patient's blood glucose level and doesn't need electronic glucometer devices.

Results: In this study we compared the mean level of venous and capillary blood glucose levels which had been determined by test strips and by enzymatic method (the standard laboratory kit). The mean capillary and venous blood glucose measured by the strip test was 21.85 mg/dl (P< 0.0001) and 17.9 mg/dl (P< 0.002); respectively that was 11.13% more than the standard method.

Conclusion: In this study the correlation of venous blood glucose with standard method was more than that of the capillary blood glucose according to the Pearson Correlation (0.84 vs. 0.824) and the correlation was statistically significant (P< 0.0001).

Since the Betachek strip results has a significant correlation with the standard method, It could be a favorable method for home blood glucose level monitoring.