POC Glucose Meter Evaluated for Neonatal Intensive Care

The monitoring of blood glucose in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients is important in maintaining normoglycemia and reducing the risk of hypoglycemia.

Point-of-care testing (POCT) glucose meters provide short turnaround times but some have been reported to be affected by hematocrit interference and other biochemical or biological substances in their accuracy and performance.


Scientists at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria) tested 159 heparinized whole blood samples from NICU patients obtained for blood gas analysis. Accuracy (bias) of a new meter and analytical interferences were evaluated by comparing the results of the meter with the results of the blood gas analyzer routinely used for glucose measurements in this NICU setting.

Routine glucose measurements were performed at each hospital site using blood gas analyzers ABL 700 and ABL 835 (Radiometer Medical ApS, Copenhagen, Denmark). The blood gas analyzers were considered the appropriate reference method for comparing the performance of StatStrip Glucose POCT (Nova Biomedical; Waltham, MA, USA).

The results of glucose values covered the range of hypoglycemia to hyperglycemia, with glucose concentrations ranging from 13 mg/dL to 389 mg/dL. The results obtained for the Nova StatStrip Glucose POCT were not affected by the level of hematocrit, by sample pH or by medication. In the two children’s hospitals where the study was performed, the NICU patient population demonstrated a wide range of hematocrit levels even beyond the levels of the ranges claimed as not showing interferences in the product labeling of other glucose meters.

The authors concluded that the accuracy of the NOVA StatStrip Glucose meter results was not influenced by the varying hematocrit levels in the NICU patients, which validates the performance of the hematocrit correction that is in-built into the design of StatStrip Glucose. The StatStrip meter showed good clinical accuracy and performance for measuring and monitoring glucose levels in NICU patients, with special respect to preterm infants, and therefore can act as a perfect alternative to a blood gas analyzer for measuring blood glucose in NICU patients. The study was published on September 1, 2013, in the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine.

Related Links:
Medical University of Vienna
Radiometer Medical ApS
Nova Biomedical