Blood from a Finger-prick is OK to Test for Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is responsible for a huge burden of disease in the Kimberley. Australian and international recommendations to exclude or diagnose diabetes stipulate the need to use laboratory blood glucose samples which can cause logistical problems and delays in diagnosis, particularly in remote communities. Being able to use capillary point-of-care (POC) glucometers to diagnose or exclude diabetes would make this process quicker and easier. This study demonstrated that POC capillary blood glucose analysers can be used as part of the process of diagnosing and excluding diabetes in remote rural communities using locally established capillary equivalence values.

This study led to changes to the diagnostic pathway for Type 2 diabetes in the Kimberley, and the Kimberley Chronic Disease Therapeutic Protocol for Type 2 Diabetes (2007). The results from this study also contributed to changes to the current National Evidence Based Guideline for Case Detection and Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes (2009).

Publication:
Marley JV, Davis S, Coleman K, Hayhow BD, Brennan G, Mein JK, Nelson C, Atkinson D, and Maguire GP. Point-of-care testing of capillary glucose in the exclusion and diagnosis of diabetes in remote Australia. Med J Aust 2007;186:500-503

Download:

Plain language report for staff (135 KB .pdf)

Plain language report community members (50 KB .pdf)

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