A few weeks ago, I ran across the Pogo “all-in-one” blood glucose meter in this sub. I was intrigued by the concept of a meter that automated lancing, blood draw, and strip changing, so I tried it out. Unfortunately, I found it to be a less accurate and more painful than my trusty FreeStyle Lite meter.
There are a number of other meters I’m interested in trying out, so I decided to expand the study. I’m pre-registering the experiment here for data quality & transparency and to get feedback on the choice of meter and experimental design.
Does anyone have recommendations for interesting blood glucose meters they’d like to see me test?
Details
Meter Selection
To find blood glucose meters to test, I searched Google, Amazon, various diabetes forums, and posted to r/diabetes. I also looked at academic papers testing the accuracy of different meters, the most useful of which was a paper from Russell and co-workers. Based on this, I selected the following meters to test:
- Control: FreeStyle Freedom Lite
- This is the meter I’ve been using since I got diabetes ~10 years ago. It ranks 5th on accuracy in the paper from Russell and co-workers and requires very little blood, making it easy and quick to use.
- Precision: Contour Next & OneTouch Verio Flex
- These were the two most accurate and precise meters from the paper from Russell and co-workers.
- The actual OneTouch meter from the paper was the VerioIQ, but that’s no longer available. The Verio Flex is a newer meter from OneTouch, so hopefully it’s as good or better.
- Low-cost: ReliOn Premier
- This is Wallmart’s low-cost meter. It didn’t perform well in the paper from Russell and co-workers, but it’s only $18 for 100 strips without insurance, so I’m interested to see how it compares.
- Innovative Design/Functionality: Dario, Accu-Check Mobile, & Beta-Chek
- All three of these have the meter, lancets, and strips contained in a single device, making carrying the meter much more convenient.
- Pogo had the same promise, but was less accurate and more painful, so I’m really interested to see if these work better.
- Meters that are of interest, but I can’t get: Beurer 50 GL Evo & Glucorx
- These both look interesting, but are not available where I live. If anyone has a suggestion on how I can get them, I’ll add them to the experiment.
Experiment
- I will test my blood glucose once per day for 15 days, rotating between three times: pre-lunch, pre-dinner, and before bed.
- At each time, I will take 3 measurements with each meter and record the results from my Dexcom G6, along with any failed test strips and observations on convenience, pain, and other user experience.
- This will result in 15 sets of 3 measurements for each meter, for a total of 45 measurements/meter or 315 total blood glucose measurements (more if I get additional meters).
Analysis
- For each meter I will calculate the pooled standard deviation, bias (vs. Freestyle Freedom Lite), and mean absolute difference (vs. FreeStyle Freedom Lite).
- All values will be reported with 95% confidence intervals & data will be visualized using Tableau.
Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions on the choice of meters or experimental design.
The last meter should be arriving by February 13th, so I will report out the results on March 5th.
– QD
I’d like to see your results compared to that new-fangled German laser measure that doesn’t require a prick. Regardless, I will be following!
Do you mean this one? Doesn’t look like it’s available to order, but if anyone from the company wants a free alpha/beta tester, I’d be happy to give it a try :).