Introduction: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has magnified, globally. Being cost effective and user friendly, using the glucometer systems has become more widespread. However, despite their advantages, there are controversies regarding their accuracy and precision.
Aim: To determine the accuracy and precision of the common glucometers of Bionime, Accu-check, and Beurer compared with the laboratory technique.
Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study, 257 patients of a general internal unit of Imam Reza hospital of Kermanshah were recruited. The blood sample of the subjects was transferred to the laboratory, then, two samples of capillary blood were tested by the three glucometers. The data was entered into a checklist, then entered to SPSS-16.0 software, and analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: In this study, there was a positive correlation between the three blood glucose measurement methods with the standard approach, significantly, which indicates acceptable accuracy. However, this correlation was higher in the Beurer Glucometer (r=0.976, p<0.001). There were no significant differences in repeated measurements of blood glucose in the glucometers of Beurer (t=0.96, p=0.92), and Bionime (t=0.50, p=0.61) by paired t-test, but this test was significant for Accu-chek system (t=2.7, p=0.006).
Conclusion: With respect to the acceptable accuracy and precision of Beurer and Bionime glucometers, it is suggested to use these methods for diabetic patients at homes as well as in the hospital units.
Keywords: Blood glucose self-monitoring; Diabetes complications; Diabetes mellitus.