Comparing the use of traditional sites and alternative sites puncture for determination of blood glucose by glucometer

摘要

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is important in evaluating the efficacy of prescribed anti-hyperglycaemic therapies and can help the patient better understand the importance of achieving glycaemic control. Pain related to puncture of the fingertip, needed for determination of blood glucose, can notably reduce compliance of patients using self-monitoring devices. The use of glycated haemoglobin, while providing a measure of glycaemic control over the past 2-3 months, is an average of pre- and post-prandial glycaemia and does not take into account glycaemic variability, which is an important cardiovascular risk factor that can be assessed by SMBG. The search for sites as an alternative to the fingertip that are associated with less pain and good reproducibility and accuracy of blood glucose measurements is an area of growing interest. The present study enrolled 5 general practitioners and 70 patients with diabetes and without diabetes-related or neurological/vascular complications that could alter pain perception. Traditional and periungual puncture sites were assessed. In contrast to the fingertip, no pain was perceived at the alternative site, while there was no significant difference in the values of blood glucose obtained using traditional and alternative sites. Abbreviations: SMBG - Auto Monitoring Glycaemic, HbA1c - Haemoglobin glycated, VAS - Visual Analogue Scale