The reliability of blood glucose point-of-care testing (POCT) system in China teaching hospital

Background: To observe the reliability of blood glucose Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) system in teaching hospital in China.Methods: This was a single center, sectional study. Between Jun and Aug 2015, a total of 353 inpatients were recruited from Nanjing First Hospital, China. After 10-hr fasting, the finger point blood glucose concentrations were measured with POCT system. Venous blood specimens were collected by investigators within 5 min after the finger point blood glucose concentrations were measured. The venous blood samples were then divided into two parts, with one part for blood glucose concentration measurement in central laboratory, the other one part was for hematocrit measurement. The precision of POCT results was evaluated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) revised ISO15197:2013. The clinical accuracy of POCT results were assessed by Parkes Error Grid.Results: A total of 372 blood glucose concentrations delivered from POCT were compared with venous serum blood glucose levels measured by central laboratory system. The precision of the POCT was 76.3 %, with the 81.8 % in patients with blood glucose concentrations > 5.55 mmol/L and 75.6 % in subjects with blood glucose concentrations ≤ 5.55 mmol/L. In addition, the precision of results of POCT in patients with lower (male 40 L/L and female 37 L/L) and normal (male 40 - 50 L/L and female 37-45 L/L) hematocrit concentrations were 73.4 % and 79.4 %, respectively. The Parkes Error Grid data showed that the results from POCT, being 89.58 % values in Zone A, 10.4 1% values in Zone B, and 100 % values in Zone A+B.Conclusions: In this study, our data provided the real world of the reliability of results delivered from POCT was unfulfilled the standard of ISO15197:2013 of accuracy limits criteria in one hospital setting in China.