Self‐monitoring of blood glucose from abdominal skin: An extraordinary method

A 70 year old man with type 1 diabetes self‐monitored his blood glucose for 15 years by withdrawing capillary blood from the abdominal skin. The precision of this method was determined by simultaneously comparing the specific enzymatic glucose concentrations from the abdominal skin and the finger pad. Intra‐ and inter‐method differences and the means of self‐monitoring values from abdominal skin and finger pad, measured by reflectometers, did not differ statistically from their corresponding laboratory monitorings. Thus, self‐monitoring from abdominal skin is equal to and interchangeable with self‐monitoring from finger pads, provided a high monitoring standard is given. Bootstrap simulation with another 1,000 samples, accidentally fixed by a computer, confirmed the accuracy and reproducabilityof the new method.

Blood glucose self‐monitoring from abdominal skin cannot generally be recommended, but after a quality check, this method might be an alternative to the well‐established method of the finger pad for some people with diabetes.