title: Comparison of blood glucose measurements using samples obtained from the forearm, finger skin puncture, and venous serum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Blood glucose testing (BGT) at the forearm minimizes the pain experienced during sampling of capillary blood. We compared the BGT results for forearm sampling with those for standard finger skin puncture and venous serum to evaluate the clinical validity of forearm BGT.
  
  
  METHODS
  BGT was performed on the finger (G(F)) and forearm (G(A)) with a portable glucometer in 555 subjects, including 61 diabetic patients, under fasting conditions. BGT with venous serum (G(V)) was followed within an hour in 514 subjects. Simple linear regression, intraclass correlation, and Passing-Bablok regression analyses were performed using the G(A)-G(F) and G(A)-G(V) data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  G(A) showed an excellent linear relationship with both G(F) and G(V) with a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of 0.97 (P<0.0001) in the patient group, which was similar to the findings in the normal group except for the lower r values. The mean bias between G(A) and G(F) and between G(A) and G(V) were within +/- 10 mg/dL in both groups. The intraclass correlation coefficients were slightly smaller than the corresponding r values, but they showed the same tendency in both groups. In the Passing-Bablok analyses, the 95% confidence intervals of the slope and intercept parameters were <+/-20% of unity and <+/-20 mg/dL, respectively, which were within the acceptable ranges. All 3 statistical analyses supported the satisfactory agreement of G(A) with G(F) or G(V).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BGT at the forearm was highly consistent with the standard BGT, thereby confirming its applicability in clinical practice for self-testing under steady fasting conditions.
authors.affiliation: Personalized Tumor Engineering Research Center, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung Soon
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Mi Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Young Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Wun Jae
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seong Su
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kyoung Ok
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eun Jong
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Kyung Ah
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply*; D005542:Forearm / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose