Comparing Your Meter Result to a Laboratory Result
A common question is how the blood glucose results on your meter compare to the laboratory results. Your
blood glucose can change quickly, especially after eating, taking medication, or physical activity. If you test
yourself in the morning and then go to your healthcare professional’s oce for a blood glucose test, your
results will probably not match even if you are fasting. This is typically not a problem with your meter; it just
means that time has elapsed and your blood glucose has changed.
If you want to compare your meter result to the laboratory result, you must be fasting. Take your meter to
the healthcare professional’s oce, and test yourself by fingerstick within 5 minutes of having blood drawn
from your arm by a healthcare professional. Keep in mind that the laboratory uses dierent technology than
the meter, and that blood glucose meters for self‑testing generally read somewhat lower than the laboratory
result.
If you are fasting and you do a fingerstick test within 5 minutes of having your blood drawn, here are the
general guidelines to compare your meter result to the laboratory result:
• If your blood glucose is below 75 mg/dL, your results generally should fall within ±15 mg/dL of the
laboratory result.
• If your blood glucose is equal to or over 75 mg/dL, your results generally should fall within ±20 % of the
laboratory result.
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