Abstract

Introduction: Neonatal hypoglycemia is an emergency condition requiring immediate treatment to prevent serious outcomes. Today, blood glucose meter is a current method for detecting blood glucose in the health centers of our country, while the hypoglycemia can not be confirmed or denied certainly with glucometer.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of blood glucose meter in comparison to that of laboratory method and determine the optimal cut- 0ff point in detecting neonatal hypoglycemia by glucometer.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit of Al Zahra Hospital from September 2013 to March 2014. In infants with risk factors of hypoglycemia blood glucose was tested with blood glucose meter (ACCU CHEK - Performa), if the blood glucose was under 60 mg/dl. Simultaneously, the venous blood glucose values were done on (Selectra2) auto analyzer by glucose oxidase method. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of glucometer were determined.

Results: Hypoglycemia was observed in 32% and 33% of neonates, respectively with glucometer and laboratory methods. A weak correlation was observed between the results of glucometer and laboratory methods (r=0.275). In this study, the optimal cut – off point by glucometer was found to be  54 mg/dl and sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and a negative predictive values of glucometer were 45.45%, 74.6%, 65%, 46.8% and 73.5% respectively. According to ROC curve area under the curve (AUC) was 0.616.

Conclusion: According to the results obtained in this study, glucometer has not sufficient diagnostic value to detect  neonatal hypoglycemia. Blood Glucose meter results should be confirmed using a laboratory method.