Q. Why don’t my Meter results
match the results that I got from
my doctor’s laboratory exactly?
A.
Many Health Care Professionals
believe that the result that you get
with your Meter should fall within
15% to 20% of the result obtained
when whole blood is tested on
laboratory equipment.
5
However,
there are a number of reasons why
the blood glucose result from your
Meter may vary even more than 20%
from a laboratory result.
6
One of the
most common reasons is that
laboratories use serum or plasma
samples, while home blood glucose
monitors use whole blood. Whole
blood results are approximately
10%–12% lower than serum or
plasma values from the same blood
sample (at average hemocrit levels
41%– 45%). To adjust for this
difference, divide the laboratory
value by 112% or 1.12.
7
Example:
■
Let’s assume your lab (plasma)
result is 150 mg/dL.
■
150 divided by 1.12=134 mg/dL.
■
Compare your Meter result to
134 mg/dL.
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LSI-96-175 OTB manual 7/25/97 11:30 PM Page 69