The utility of a single glucometer measurement of fasting capillary blood glucose in the prevalence determination of diabetes mellitus in an urban adult Palestinian population

This paper aims to evaluate the utility of a single glucometer fasting capi llary blood glucose (FCBG) measurement in determining the prevalence of dia betes mellitus in a homogeneous adult population. FCBG measurements were co mpared with results of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in 445 subjec ts aged 30-65 years in an urban cross-sectional study in Old Ramallah. Prev alence of diabetes, sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were cal culated at different cut-off levels of FCBG, using OGTT as the reference. T he prevalence of OGTT-diagnosed diabetes was 2.7%, while it varied consider ably using different cut-off levels of FCBG. The sensitivity of a single gl ucometer (Exac Tech II) measurement of FCBG at the cut-off level of 6.7 mmo l l(-1) was 33.3%, with a specificity of 98.8%. Using the cut-off level of 6.1 mmol l(-1) as suggested by the 1998 provisional report of a WHO consult ation, the sensitivity increased to 41.7%. At a cut-off level of 5.6 mmol l (-1), a sensitivity of 66.6% was reached, but the specificity decreased sli ghtly. It can be concluded that a single glucometer measurement of FCBG in an adult population is not useful in determining the prevalence of diabetes mellitus.