How?
Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 8:53AM You want me to build a house with tools that don't work.
How?
The drill bit says it's 1/2" but sometimes it's 3/8." These 2x4's are really 1.5x6's most of the time. Oh and all those nails you bought and have half way finished using, yeah... those have been recalled and you need to return them because they don't work correctly. So are the screws.
This sounds silly right, but this is a lot like the was tools for diabetes are these days.
"You need to keep your blood sugar in range and lower your A1C!"
How?
Check this out. This is from Diabetes Daily and here is a link to the entire article which is eye opening. This section I have referred back to several times.
Comparison of Meter Accuracy
The chart below is from System Accuracy Evaluation of 43 Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems for Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose according to DIN EN ISO 15197 by Dr. Guido Freckmann and others published in Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Volume 6, Issue 5, September 2012.
Between 2009 and 2011, over a hundred people were recruited to test each of the meters listed below. The test strips were taken from at least seven different vials of one manufacturing lot. Over at least ten days, the patients tested their blood sugar with the meter and then a second sample was taken for analysis in a lab.
Before using this data, it is important to know the limitations:
- The study only looked at one manufacturing lot. Every time a manufacturer makes a set of test strips, quality can go up or down. This chart only gives us a peek at a single manufacturing run a few years ago.
- The methods used to test the meters have a margin of error of up to 8%. Therefore, not all of the inaccuracies can be automatically attributed to the meters themselves. This is especially true if you look at the “within 5%” column.
- The meters below were tested in Europe. Not all meters are available in the USA. Some meters may have differences between their European counterparts with the same name.
- There is no way to compare current meter accuracy. This is the sad truth. Independent testing of accuracy is very expensive, and no one is doing it. It is up to us to fight for independent testing.
How to Read This Table
The table compares meters based on the proposed, tighter standards that will likely be approved this year.
- The left three columns show the accuracy of results for blood sugars under 100 mg (5.5 mmol).
- The right three columns show the accuracy for blood sugars over 100 mg (5.5 mmol).
- There are columns showing how many of the tests were with 15%, 10% and 5%.
Under 100 mg
Under 100 mg
Under 100 mg
Over 100 mg
Over 100 mg
Over 100 mgAccu-Chek Active 100% 100% 72% 100% 100% 79% Accu-Chek Aviva 100% 97% 80% 99% 91% 64% Accu-Chek Nano 100% 96% 80% 99% 95% 65% Accu-Chek Compact Plus 100% 86% 27% 100% 94% 69% Accu-Chek Go 100% 100% 94% 100% 96% 79% Accu-Chek Mobile (maltose dependent) 98% 98% 73% 100% 96% 66% Accu-Chek Mobile (maltose independent) 100% 98% 71% 100% 94% 66% Accu-Chek Performa
(maltose dependent)100% 95% 72% 99% 94% 68% Accu-Chek Performa
(maltose independent)98% 97% 78% 98% 92% 66% Accu-Chek Performa Nano 100% 98% 87% 100% 96% 64% Bayer Contour usb 90% 69% 45% 91% 68% 34% BGStar 98% 92% 80% 97% 87% 62% Beurer GL32 85% 62% 40% 99% 91% 56% Beurer GL40 98% 90% 52% 95% 78% 42% Biocheck TD-4225 76% 52% 22% 97% 80% 49% Element 90% 79% 48% 83% 64% 30% FreeStyle Freedom Lite 100% 100% 98% 100% 98% 90% FreeStyle Lite 100% 100% 93% 100% 100% 86% Futura Monometer 90% 68% 27% 79% 59% 26% GlucoCheck Classic 97% 84% 55% 85% 66% 38% GlucoCheck Comfort 96% 86% 56% 95% 74% 41% GlucoCheck XL 97% 92% 58% 88% 65% 40% Glucohexal II 50% 21% 7% 80% 64% 32% GlucoRx (TD-4230) 83% 41% 14% 65% 40% 14% GlucoSmart Swing 84% 53% 15% 94% 67% 33% GlucoTel 89% 70% 33% 92% 72% 41% Gluco-test Plus+ TD-4230 96% 94% 76% 95% 79% 42% iBGStar 96% 90% 52% 90% 72% 35% iDia 96% 80% 47% 90% 71% 40% IME-DC Fidelity 72% 43% 18% 94% 85% 48% iXell 100% 98% 68% 89% 75% 38% iXell OLED 97% 85% 52% 97% 79% 39% microdot+ 98% 95% 62% 94% 83% 43% Omnitest 3 94% 86% 64% 91% 79% 48% OneTouch Verio 97% 78% 40% 100% 95% 64% OneTouch Verio Pro 88% 53% 21% 93% 75% 405 OneTouch VITA 98% 93% 72% 99% 87% 50% Pura 100% 95% 48% 100% 74% 30% SeniorLine GM210 15% 0% 0% 79% 55% 29% smartLAB genie 84% 52% 23% 98% 87% 57% smartLAB global 91% 85% 57% 93% 79% 48% WaveSense Jazz 100% 75% 38% 95% 80% 47% Wellion CALLA Light 68% 33% 13% 89% 73% 52%
Crazy right?
Wanna do something about it? Head on over to Strip Safely. Get informed and get involved!
Oh and by the way some MORE test strips have been recalled. If you use Nova Max you should check this out.
Look, I know not everything is perfect. Even your blood tests from a lab have a margain of error. But it seems like a MAJOR effort should be put towards DEMANDING our tools be AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE! Not because a company wants to but because the FDA holds companies to a higher STANDARD.
If we are the ones who have to manage this disease then we should have the best tools for the job.
You want me to get this boat from Los Angeles to Sydney with navagation tools that work once and a while?
How?
And speaking of Australia, here is another recall on a diabetes device for glucose monitoring at night called HypoMon (only available in Australia (well it used to be (Kevin would be so proud))). It's meant to alarm at night when you are low but it doesn't work right and they are recalling them all for a full refund! SCARY!
With meters that are not as accurate as you think they are and insulin that doesn't always work the way it's supposed to it easy to see why people with diabetes get so frustrated. You can count the carbs in your food, check your blood, measure up a dose of insulin, but all of those things could be off just enough to make the whole attempt at tight control pointless.
So we are supposed to find out about all these devices that don't work as they say they should and are not held to the highest of standards they could be and just accept it as good enough.
How?
