Is finger pricking accurate for measuring blood sugar?

Most young people generally do not need to measure their blood sugar, but those who are obviously overweight and older people need to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly. There are many things to pay attention to when measuring blood sugar, such as choosing the right time to measure and paying attention to the measuring point. The most popular method now is to measure blood sugar with fingers, which requires pricking the finger to obtain blood. So, are the results of such blood sugar tests accurate?

Is finger pricking accurate for measuring blood sugar?

Generally, venous blood is more accurate for blood sugar testing. The results of blood glucose meter testing can only be used as a reference for monitoring blood sugar changes on a daily basis. In addition, blood glucose meters generally need to be calibrated in the hospital's laboratory every month. Generally, they are still relatively accurate after calibration.

Suggestions: If you have diabetes, you should strictly control your blood sugar, eat less sweets, take medicine on time to control blood sugar, monitor blood sugar changes, prevent hypoglycemia, and exercise moderately.

For blood sugar monitoring, fasting blood sugar and two hours after meal blood sugar are recommended. Blood glucose meters are generally fragile and have a certain degree of error, so they should be compared with venous blood glucose values ​​regularly.

If you haven't eaten at 8 o'clock in the morning, your blood sugar level is measured on a fasting basis. If you have eaten, then you need to check the time you finished eating. Monitor 7 times a day: before meals, 2 hours after meals, before bedtime, and once more in the second half of the night if necessary. Blood is drawn from both sides of the fingers because the nerves are concentrated at the fingertips, the sides of the fingers are less sensitive than the fingertips, and the blood supply on the sides of the fingers is also very sufficient.

Blood sugar testing is to determine whether blood sugar is normal based on the amount of glucose in the blood. When the research and formulation was conducted, "glucose in venous blood" was used as the standard. So this is the “standard value” for venous blood. But it's inconvenient. Therefore, a convenient test using finger blood was developed. As a daily "test". However, it is not venous blood, but a "mixed blood" of the arteries and veins at the extremities of the limbs. So it is different from storing blood in veins. The accuracy of venous blood is certain. The blood level in fingers is generally slightly lower than that in venous blood. That is, venous blood will be about 10% higher.

Judging from the patient's blood sugar level above, it was a bit high. Now the blood sugar level is normal. It may be due to changes in lifestyle, exercise, diet, etc. that have adjusted the blood sugar level, which is basically accurate. However, there is still some deviation between the peripheral blood sugar and the venous blood test results. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the comparison of the results of the two tests, and insist on exercise and diet control and non-drug treatment measures to adjust and maintain normal blood sugar.