Types of Blood Glucose Meters: Pros and Cons

Are you diabetic? If yes, your doctor might have asked you to keep track of your blood glucose levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends regular BGL measurement as it helps achieve the blood sugar target ranges. Moreover, your healthcare team also remains aware of your condition and better future decisions can be made regarding your diabetes care plan. To do so, different types of blood glucose meters are available in the US market.

In this article, let us dive into the different types of blood glucose meters as well as their pros and cons. In addition, let us also learn about some of the best brands available in the market.

What are Blood Glucose Meters?

Blood glucose meters or glucometers are easy-to-use devices that estimate and display a person’s blood glucose level (BGL). Although blood glucose meters can be used by anyone, these are specifically useful for diabetic patients who need to measure their blood sugar levels daily.

Different types of blood glucose meters are known for their portability, ease of usage, as well as simple interpretation of the results.

Types of Blood Glucose Meters

When it comes to the types of blood glucose meters, the following two categories broadly classify all the available devices:

• Standard blood glucose meters
• Continuous blood glucose meters (also called continuous glucose monitors or CGMs)

Let us learn about them in detail.

Standard Blood Glucose Meters

Standard blood glucose meters are the types of blood glucose meters that are simplest in their construction as well as usage. These are handheld devices that have a digital screen to display the results. The devices are manual and can be used once daily or as recommended by your healthcare provider.

Working

Standard blood glucose meters work by checking a small blood sample taken from the diabetic patient and giving a BGL reading. These devices come with a lancing device that takes a sterile, spring-loaded needle called a lancet. This lancet and lancing device is used to prick the finger or any other sampling site.

This blood sample thus collected is loaded on a disposable test strip that has been inserted into the glucose meter. The glucose in the blood sample reacts with the glucose oxidase enzyme present in the test strip. As a result, an electrical signal is produced that is sensed and amplified by the blood glucose meter. Finally, the BGL result is displayed on the easy-to-read, often backlit screen within a few seconds.

Pros

These types of blood glucose meters have several advantages that indicate why they are often preferred by healthcare providers as well as patients. Some of these benefits include the following:

• These types of blood glucose meters are easy to use and are often known for their high accuracy.
• Standard blood glucose meters can be used at home by the patient or the caregiver as they do not require any special training to operate. This allows self-monitoring of BGL using these types of blood glucose meters.
• The blood glucose results produced by these types of blood glucose meters are quick and allow the adjustment of the therapeutic regimen based on the patient’s sugar levels.
• Standard blood glucose meters are portable and can be carried around even while traveling.
• These types of blood glucose meters are cost-effective as one device allows multiple BGL tests.

Cons

Despite their several advantages, standard blood glucose meters have some of the cons as well that can impact the blood sugar level reading. These include the following:

• These types of blood glucose meters can sometimes give an inaccurate reading because of the presence of ketones in the blood sample that interfere with the glucose.
• If the lancets are non-sterile, using a standard blood glucose meter can become the cause of infections.
• Expired or improperly stored test strips can also fluctuate the BGL readings.
• These types of blood glucose meters are affected by pH as low pH can lead to a lowered BGL value while a higher one can indicate a falsely elevated sugar level.

Continuous Blood Glucose Meters

Continuous glucose monitors are the types of blood glucose meters that are in the form of a sensor. These are attached to the skin (usually at the back of the upper arm or the abdomen). Their difference from the standard blood glucose meters is that these automatically keep on checking the patient’s glucose level at regular, relatively shorter intervals (every few minutes). This way, a better BGL trend can be observed.

Working

Continuous blood glucose meters have a sensor that is inserted under the skin with the help of an applicator. Once in place, the sensor starts analyzing the interstitial fluid and estimates the blood sugar level.

This data is then wirelessly transferred to a receiver or a smartphone. For this purpose, a transmitter is fitted into the sensor. When the receiver or the smartphone receives this BGL data, it is displayed on the screen in the form of values, trends, as well as graphs.

Pros

Being more consistent in the BGL estimate, continuous blood glucose meters provide several advantages to the patients. Some of these are as follows:

• The use of these types of blood glucose meters ensures improved glycemic control as real-time glucose data is available that assists more informed decisions regarding the necessary therapeutic or lifestyle interventions.
• As these types of blood glucose meters also have a feature to alert the user as soon as their blood sugar level is low, timely management becomes possible. This leads to a reduced risk of hypoglycemia.
• These continuous glucose meters keep on recording BGL data while the patient is asleep. As a result, the patterns and trends give a visualization of the 24/7 sugar level changes rather than only during the day.
• The data recorded by these types of blood glucose meters can be shared directly with the healthcare providers. This way, the healthcare team remains aware of the patient’s condition all the time.
• Each CGM sensor has a life of nearly 14 days. Therefore, the patient does not have to prick their fingers for blood sampling. The sensor can do that on its own for several days until there is a need to change it.

Cons

No matter how beneficial continuous blood glucose meters may seem, some of the cons are also associated with the system. These include the following:

• These types of blood glucose meters are expensive as compared to the standard blood glucose monitors which are to be bought once every few years.
• CGMs can sometimes provide a false alarm which disturbs the user for no reason.
• In terms of calibration, these types of blood glucose meters are to be compared with the standard glucose meters in terms of their performance and readings. This adds an extra step to the use of blood glucose measuring systems.
• The presence of a lag time between the interstitial fluid glucose levels as well as the blood glucose levels may render the BGL readings inaccurate when rapid actions are required.

Different Types of Blood Glucose Meters at Health Supply 770:  Features and Specifications

Regular blood glucose level measurement is essential for planning a therapeutic regimen for diabetic patients. These levels indicate how well the patient is responding to the medications or the lifestyle interventions. Both standard and continuous blood glucose meters are available in the market.

When it comes to learning about different types of blood glucose meters, it is also essential to look into some of the products that many brands manufacture. Some of these well-known brands are also available at Health Supply 770 and have been detailed below along with their features and purchase links:

Roche Accu-Chek® Guide Blood Glucose Meter

US$62.88 to $620.88

Product Details

Roche Accu-Chek® Guide blood glucose meters are blood glucose monitoring systems that measure and display the results within 4 seconds. The product allows for taking fresh capillary blood samples from fingertips, palms, as well as upper arms. A power source of 3-volt coin-cell batteries operates the system.

In addition, these Roche Accu-Chek® Guide blood glucose meters have spill-resistant SmartPack vials for the storage of unused test strips. Moreover, these device allows easy insertion and ejection of the test strips with a single push button operation. The nighttime BGL measurement is also possible as the display is backlit.

OneTouch Ultra Plus Flex Meter

US$47.88

Product Details

OneTouch Ultra Plus flex meters allow a seamless monitoring of blood sugar levels. These devices check each blood sample 500 times before they display a result. This way, the reading accuracy is guaranteed.

Moreover, these OneTouch Ultra Plus flex meters are user-friendly as all the features are easy to understand even for first-time users.

GUIDEME Accu-Chek Guide ME Meter Care Kit

US$22.88

Product Details

GUIDEME Accu-Chek Guide ME meter care kits contain an Accu-Chek Guide ME blood glucose meter, an Accu-Chek Softclix lancing device, 10 Softclix lancets, an instructions guide, as well as a hard shell carrying case. These systems produce accurate and reliable results within no time. The spill-resistant SmartPack vial keeps the test strips contamination-free until the time of use.

Moreover, these GUIDEME Accu-Chek Guide ME meters can be connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth given the device has the mySugr app.

GUIDEMTR Accu-Chek Guide Meter Kit Includes FastClix lancing Device with 6 Lancets (1 Drum)

US$47.88

Product Details

GUIDEMTR Accu-Chek Guide meter kits are BGL measurement devices that can be connected to a smartphone or a display device to visualize the results. The system can check and give a BGL reading within 4 seconds.

Each GUIDEMTR Accu-Chek Guide meter kit contains an Accu-Chek Guide blood glucose meter, a FastClix lancing device, and a drum containing 6 individually packed lancets. The spill-resistant test strip container is provided to keep the test strips secure.

Glucocard Shine Connex Blood Glucose Meter Kit

US$48.88

Product Details

Glucocard Shine Connex blood glucose meter kits are the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved systems that are in their post-marketing surveillance phase. The product is highly accurate and easy to use due to its no coding technology. The kit includes a Glucocard Shine Connex blood glucose meter, test strips, a lancing device, sterile lancets, as well as a carrying case to store all the components.

Moreover, these Glucocard Shine Connex blood glucose meters have a backlit display that allows device usage even during nighttime. In addition, people with poor vision can also easily operate the device.

*Note: The prices mentioned in the article are taken from the Health Supply 770 website. These may vary over time.

The different types of blood glucose meters mentioned in this article, along with many other medical supplies, can be purchased from Health Supply 770, a reliable name when it comes to medical products. They have a 30-day money-back guarantee and provide your products to you in the shortest possible time. Click the link at the end of the article to check the different types of blood glucose meters.

Conclusion

Blood glucose level estimation is a basic necessity for diabetic patients. This is because the BGL data provides an idea of how well the patient is responding to certain treatments or lifestyle changes. This BGL measurement is possible by using a blood glucose meter.

Among different types of blood glucose meters, standard and continuous devices are often compared in terms of their design, size, user comfort, cost, as well as the accuracy of the readings. After going through both of them in detail, it can be concluded that both of these devices have their pros and cons. The suitability of the systems may vary from patient to patient depending upon their disease state.

As several types of blood glucose meters are required in healthcare facilities as well as home settings, these should be bought and kept in calibrated form to accommodate extensive use. For purchasing different types of blood glucose meters, reliable vendors like Health Supply 770 should be approached. They ensure the provision of quality products along with satisfactory services.

References

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/diabetes-testing/monitoring-blood-sugar.html