An Analysis: To Code or Not to Code—That is the Question

Abstract

Most blood glucose monitoring systems need coding to correct for variation in lots of enzyme, which leads to differences in lots of strips. About 16% of patients miscode the meters, although the magnitude of the miscoding is unstudied. This miscoding has the potential to cause errors as high as 30% and to cause errors in adjusting insulin therapy that could lead to hypoglycemia at least 10% of the time. Studies of these systems suggest that they have accuracy similar to other current meters and have similar physical characteristics. Because they do not require coding, they are often easier to use. No-coding systems have the potential to avoid some errors in blood glucose.