Evaluation of six portable blood glucose meters for measuring blood glucose concentration in dogs

Objective-To evaluate accuracy of 6 portable blood glucose meters (PBGMs) by comparing results of these meters with results obtained with a reference chemistry analyzer. Design-Evaluation study. Animals-49 dogs (158 blood samples). Procedures-Venous blood samples were tested with the 6 PBGMs, and results were compared with results of a commercially available analyzer that used a reference method based on the hexokinase reaction. Results-Plasma glucose concentrations obtained with the reference analyzer ranged from 41 to 639 mg/dL. There were significant correlations between blood glucose concentrations obtained with the 6 PBGMs and plasma glucose concentrations obtained with the reference analyzer (r >= 0.96). However, for all 6 PBGMs, results differed from results for the reference analyzer, with the difference increasing as plasma glucose concentration increased. Significant differences in bias were found among meters. For 142 samples classified as hypoglycemic, euglycemic, or hyperglycemic on the basis of results of the reference analyzer, the percentage of samples that were misclassified on the basis of results of the PBGMs ranged from 2.1 % to 38.7%. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance Results of the present study suggested that there were substantial differences in the accuracy of currently available PBGMs when used to determine blood glucose concentration in dogs. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2009;235:276-280)