Improvement of therapeutic safety through standardized plasma calibration of blood glucose test systems at the point-of-care

Blood glucose measurements are performed mainly at the point-of-care in out-patient settings and in hospitals as well as for patient self-monitoring mainly by small hand-held devices. Generally, capillary or venous blood is used as a sample but results are variably reported, depending on the different calibration procedures of the test strips by the manufacturers, as either whole blood or as plasma glucose, accounting for a difference of ca. 11%. This can result in therapeutic misjudgments. To avoid the risk of confusion of whole blood and plasma results, in 2005 the IFCC has proposed to report all results only as glucose concentration in plasma, irrespective of sample type or measurement technique. This recommendation should be followed in Germany as soon as possible.