58
Comparing Your Meter Result to a Lab Result
A common question is how the blood glucose results on your meter compare to the lab results. Your blood
glucose can change quickly, especially after eating, taking medication, or physical activity. If you test yourself
in the morning and then go to the healthcare professional’s oce for a blood glucose test, your results will
probably not match, even if you are fasting. This is typically not a problem with your meter, it just means that
time has elapsed and your blood glucose has changed.
If you want to compare your meter result to the lab result, you must be fasting. Take your meter to the
healthcare professional’s oce, and test yourself by fingerstick within five minutes of having blood drawn
from your arm by a healthcare professional. Keep in mind that the lab uses dierent technology than the
meter, and that blood glucose meters for self testing generally read somewhat lower than the lab result.
If you are fasting and you do a fingerstick test within five minutes of having your blood drawn, here are the
general guidelines to compare your meter result to the lab result:
• If your blood glucose is below 75 mg/dL, your results generally should fall within ±15 mg/dL of the lab
result.
• If your blood glucose is equal to or over 75 mg/dL, your results generally should fall within ±20 % of the
lab result.
52123_07006322001.indb 58 10/18/13 2:31 PM
