Which BGL is the right BGL?

[Dustdevil]

Reasonable guess. I postulated the same. BGL should be much like O[sub:9146167cba]2[/sub:9146167cba], in that the farther along in the circulation you go, the more glucose (or oxygen) will have been extracted from the blood.

[rocket]

I would guess that venous blood, such as one would draw when starting an IV, could have a lower BG than capillary blood because some of the glucose in the blood has been extracted by the cells surrounding the capillary beds.

Disclaimer: That's just a guess, I didn't research it.

Reasonable guess. I postulated the same. BGL should be much like O[sub:2480c8c9f7]2[/sub:2480c8c9f7], in that the farther along in the circulation you go, the more glucose (or oxygen) will have been extracted from the blood.

That's about what I figured as well. Makes good sense from a Biology 101 perspective (cellular respiration and all).

-Trevor

[kevkei]

I would agree, but from an experience perspective, I've done both on patients and found the difference in most cases to be quite negligible.

[Lithium]

Just because it's along these lines, if you wish to convert mg/dL to mmol/L divide the mg/dL by 18.

So ... 80 mg/dL would be 4.4 mmol/L

peace

[john51071]

Several years ago, when starting IV's on diabetic patients, we checked venous glucose levels and also did a fingerstick. They were always within a few points of each other. This was all unofficial of course. We contacted a glucometer manufacturer with the question and were told by the rep on the phone (no telling what qualifications he did or didn't have) that they should be within 3% of each other one way or the other.