Glucose Meter

 

Glucose meter or also called as glucometer is a medical device that checks the approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It is a key aspect in doing home blood glucose monitoring (HBGM) by people that suffers from diabetes or hypoglycemia.

 

A tiny drop of blood, retrieved by pricking your skin with a lancet, your blood is then placed on a disposable test strip that the meter reads and uses it to calculate the blood glucose level. The meter will then display the level of your glucose in units (mg/d  or  mmol/l)

 

The first glucose enzyme electrode is developed in 1962 by Leland Clark and Champ. It is depended on a thin layer of glucose oxidase on an electrode. In the 1970s the American hospital use another type of glucose meter called Ames Reflectance Meter by Anton H. it is a moving needle that indicate the blood glucose after 60 seconds (1 minute) .

In the late 1970s the home glucose monitoring was shown to improve the glycemic control of the type 1 diabetes, and in the 1980s in North America, the first meters where marketed.  

 

In North America, hospitals didn’t want to adopt the use of meter glucose measurement of inpatient diabetes management, but the patient and their endocrinologists persuaded in the acceptance of this practice.

For the type 2 diabetes, the home glucose testing was slower than those for type 1. Not to mention that a most people with type 2 diabetes is not recommended in home glucose testing.

 

There are 2 types of glucose meter.  The hospital glucose meters and blood testing with meters using test strips.

Hospital glucose meters are the special glucose meters for the multi-patient hospital use. These provide more detailed quality control records.  

 

Blood testing with meters using test strips, there are few key characteristics of glucose meters that may differ from one model to the other.  Some factors that affect it are the size, test strips, calibrations, and so on.  These factors may also cause the accuracy of the results.

 

There a device called GlucoWatch, which has been approved by the U.S FDA. This device is designed to be worn on the wrist and uses electric field to draw out body fluid for tests. Keep in mind that this device does not replace the conventional blood glucose monitoring. The only limitation it have is that the GlucoWatch is not adaptable when we are sweating. Because of this limitation the product is no longer sold on the market.

 

The market then soon introduces a new noninvasive glucose measurement by spectroscopic measurement methods. This is done by extra corporal measuring devices, but it has not been successful as the device measure the amount of tissue sugar in body tissues not the blood glucose in the blood fluid. To achieve this, the device need measuring beam of infrared light. Moreover, it is predicted within the next 10 years, meters may be replaced by continuous glucose sensor for diabetic people