A new consensus error grid to evaluate the clinical significance of inaccuracies in the measurement of blood glucose

OBJECTIVE - The objectives of this study were 1) to construct new error gri ds (EGs) for blood glucose (BG) self-monitoring by using the expertise of a large panel of clinicians and 2) to use the new EGs to evaluate the accura cy of BG measurements made by patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - To construct new EGs for type 1 and type 2 di abetic patients, a total of 100 experts of diabetes were asked to assign an y error in BG measurement to 1 of 5 risk categories. We used these EGs to e valuate the accuracy of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) levels in 1 52 diabetic patients. The SMBG data were used to compare the new type 1 dia betes EG with a traditional EG. RESULTS - Both the type 1 and type 2 diabetes EGs divide the risk plane int o 8 concentric zones with no discontinuities. The new EGs are similar to ea ch other, but they differ from the traditional EG in several significant wa ys. When used to evaluate a data set of measurements made by a sample of pa tients experienced in SMBG, the new type 1 diabetes EG rated 98.6% of their measurements as clinically acceptable, compared with 95% for the tradition al EG. CONCLUSIONS - The consensus EGs furnish a new tool for evaluating errors in the measurement of BG for patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.