title: Evaluation of a portable glucose meter for use in cattle and sheep.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In farm animal practice, determination of blood glucose concentration under field conditions is often necessary.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  As there is no portable glucose meter device developed for use in farm animals, the analytical accuracy of a portable glucometer designed for people was evaluated for its use in cattle and sheep.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples from 90 cattle and 101 sheep were used in the study. Glucose concentration was determined in whole blood immediately after blood collection from the jugular vein with the One Touch Vita portable glucometer and in serum with an enzymatic colorimetric method. The agreement between methods was assessed by Passing and Bablok regression analysis. The precision and the accuracy of the measurements were determined using the concordance correlation coefficient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a strong linear relationship between the glucose values obtained using the portable glucometer and those obtained by the bench method in both cattle and sheep. Precision was 95% for cattle and 88% for sheep, whereas accuracy was 92% and 99%, respectively. The mean glucose values obtained using the portable glucometer were significantly lower by 8.3% in cattle and 3.2% in sheep than those determined by the bench method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The One Touch Vita portable glucometer can be used in clinical practice to determine blood glucose concentrations in cattle and sheep, but reference intervals (RI) must be corrected to allow for negative bias. Based on these equations the RI for blood glucose in cattle and sheep using the portable glucometer were corrected to 1.84-4.17 and 2.41-4.35 mmol/L, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, Karditsa, Greece. pkatsoul@vet.uth.gr
authors.forename: Panagiotis D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Katsoulos
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Minas
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Karatzia
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pourliotis
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Christodoulopoulos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D002417:Cattle / Q000097:blood*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012756:Sheep / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose