title: Self-monitoring of blood glucose without a meter.
abstract: We studied the reliability of the Chemstrip system in the self-monitoring of blood glucose by diabetic patients. A total of 453 blood glucose values obtained by 38 diabetic patients using Chemstrip were compared with the glucose values of the same blood samples measured with a conventional laboratory method. We found a definite tendency at concentrations less than 320 mg/dl for patient-read Chemstrip values to be too low. Also, we found a wide range in laboratory values corresponding to a given patient-read Chemstrip value. However, a better agreement between Chemstrip and laboratory values was obtained when the Chemstrips were read by trained staff. We recommend, therefore, that the use of Chemstrip in the self-monitoring of blood glucose can be restricted to patients who have shown competence in the use of Chemstrip during prior testing.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011934:Reagent Strips; D012648:Self Care
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D011934:Reagent Strips