Accuracy of bedside glucometry in critically ill patients: influence of clinical characteristics and perfusion index.

Objectives: To determine the accuracy of bedside glucose strip assay on capillary blood and on whole blood and to identify factors predictive of discrepancies with the laboratory method.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a prospective 3-month (July 1-September 30, 2003) study in 85 consecutive patients who required blood glucose monitoring. Values obtained with a glucose test strip on capillary blood and on whole blood were compared with those obtained in the laboratory during serial blood sampling (up to 4 samples per patient).