[JediSkipdogg]

Recently I embarked on a journey to attempt to assist others on this forum when choosing a blood glucose meter. I received a few free meters in the past few months and decided to test my BG level with them all at the same time. In my most current inventory of modern meters I have the One Touch Ultra Smart, One Touch Ultra 2, Freestyle Flash, and Accu-Chek Aviva.

To perform the test each time I thoroughly cleansed my hands and then wiped the finger I would be pricking with an alcohol swab. This ensured the cleanest result I could obtain. I then pricked my finger and attempted to get enough blood to test all four meters at once. Sometimes this was tricky, but to make sure the test worked, if I couldn’t obtain a large enough sample I repricked.

The results may amaze some. The one thing I did not have during any of my test though was a lab result. So keep in mind, this is only a comparison of the meters to each other.

The Chart


The above chart shows a complete picture of all four meters and an average line added. As you may notice, the higher the BG level, the further apart the results from the different meters get. This is not surprising since above 100 mg/dl home use BG meters only have to be 20% accurate. The furthest obtained was about 19.8% away from the average. The table below further explains and shows the numbers in the chart.

The Results


In creating the table I wanted to hit on a few key elements with the data. The table is currently sorted by the Average of the four meters. As you notice in the far right column the range goes from green, to yellow, to red in terms of the range of the results. The range was determined as the difference of the highest meter and the lowest meter. I figured anything less than a 20 mg/dl difference was a good number to have. Unfortunately, in the high range average, 200+, that’s nearly impossible to have.

Each meter also has numerous color codings with them. The green background was the lowest result during that test therefore making the blue background the highest result. As one may notice (and the image below shows in numbers) the Freestyle Flash was never the lowest meter and it was almost predicted to be the highest reading meter. The UltraSmart and Aviva were amazingly very close for having the lowest readings. But showing from the meter average at the bottom, the Ultra2 was the closest meter to the average each time.

The orange numbers are results that are above the average. This is where I person would correct with more insulin and possibly have a hypo later depending on what their BG truly was. Vice versa can be said for the numbers in black as one may not treat enough and can go hyper later on and have to make a second correction.

Brief Comparison


The above table is just a small glimpse into the numbers for the meters. The UltraSmart and Flash are almost complete opposites of each other in both tables. The first table is a comparison of the results above or below the average of all four meters. The second table is showing how many times the meter had the minimum and maximum value of a test. I believe the charts and images above speak for themselves.

Conclusion
This experiment was not to persuade anyone to choose one meter over another. It was to show that different meters can have drastic differences in results. Without having a lab result test each time, it is unknown to which meter is truly the most accurate. This does however show you that there is a wide variety of differences in meter readings and someone switching from an UltraSmart to a Flash may have to change their way of treatment.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I will be glad to answer them as best as possible. I will soon be completing a full review of the use of each of the meters in this test. That will take a few more weeks to do, but hopefully it can assist someone in making an educated decision in a blood glucose meter. I do thank you all for reading this.

[Funnygrl]

It looks like they all fair pretty well against each other.

[ProudMOM]

Jedi,

That is absolutely fabulous-- you amaze me by all of your awesome graphs and charts! They are very organized and easy to follow. What great information this gives to all of us. Thanks for doing all of the extra pokes and sharing with us. You are the BOMB!

[Keezheekoni]

Wow... I don't know how you have the patience to test four meters at a time. That's something so far beyond what I would ever do for myself.

Thanks for the cheat!!

[Shotokan]

Good stuff! If you really want to torture yourself take two readings from each meter using the same sample. Then you can test whether the between-meter variance is the same as the within-meter variance.