title: 'Hospital hyperglycaemia'; perception or reality?
abstract: Patients' perceptions that clinic fasting blood glucose measurements in Type 2 diabetes are artefactually high were investigated. Eighteen men and 14 women in the Salford cohort of the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) with a median age of 51 (range 37-69) years measured their fasting blood glucose concentration at home with visually read sticks or meters; they then collected capillary blood into fluoride tubes both at home and in clinic after a median lapse of 77 (range 25-173) min. The clinic samples were measured immediately and after a time lapse equivalent to the time taken to reach clinic to control for continued glycolysis in the home sample. Mean fasting blood glucose was 5.9 +/- 1.9 mmol 1(-1) by the patients' own measurement and 6.0 +/- 1.8 mmol 1(-1) on the home collected sample compared with 6.2 +/- 2.0 mmol 1(-1) and 6.1 +/- 2.0 mmol 1(-1) on the hospital immediate and time-lapsed measurements, respectively (p > 0.05 for all comparisons between home and hospital measurements); although there were no systematic differences, occasional measurements differed more than 2 mmol 1(-1). These data support the use of the fasting blood glucose level as a stable, patient-independent measure of glycaemic control in Type 2 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Hope Hospital, Salford, UK.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Lakshmi
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Tieszen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hollis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Dornan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose