Home blood sugar test inaccurate for diabetic kids

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A portable device called A1cNow, which is designed to provide a long-term picture of blood sugar control, does not provide accurate or consistent results in children with type 1 diabetes, researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.

"At present, the routine use of the A1cNow in children with type 1 diabetes cannot be recommended," lead investigator Dr. Larry Fox told Reuters Health.

The monitor measures a component of blood called hemoglobin A1c, which indicates how well blood sugar levels have been controlled over several months. Standard blood sugar monitors only indicate diabetes control over the last few hours.

In the current study, Dr. Fox of Nemours Children's Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida and colleagues compared the results obtained with A1cNow with those of obtained using a clinic-based hemoglobin A1c tester, the DCA2000.

The researchers found that the DCA2000 was consistently more accurate than the A1cNow. In all, 32 percent of A1cNow values differed from a reference standard by more than 0.5 percent, while only 3 percent of DCA2000 readings were off to that degree.

There were no clinically significant differences in accuracy regardless of whether readings were taken by patients, parents or staff.

However, the team notes that when simultaneous measurements were made using the A1cNow, either in the clinic or at home, there were marked differences in values. This, they conclude, indicates problems inherent in the device.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, January 2007.