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- How to choose
- By the numbers
Best blood-glucose meters
Self-monitoring can help people with diabetes manage their disease.
Our tests of top-selling automatic blood-glucose meters found big differences in accuracy and consistency.
Choosing the best blood-glucose meter for you, one that provides accurate and consistent readings, is essential for many people with diabetes who need daily insulin injections.
"Inaccurate or inconsistent test results could possibly lead to inadequate treatment and health problems, including dangerously low blood-sugar levels," says John Buse, M.D., president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association.
We contracted with an outside laboratory to test the accuracy and consistency of our blood-glucose meters against a standard laboratory test using blood samples from diabetic volunteers. To test the meters' ease of use, we had lay and expert panelists with diabetes use and score each glucose meter for size, speed, memory, and whether test strips required users to enter codes before testing. Only one meter scored Excellent overall (for subscribers).
