Hemoglucotest: influence of puncture sites on levels of glucose and pain intensity

Abstract

Introduction: Glucose self-monitoring by diabetes mellitus patients is important for the prevention of clinical complications. Objective: To compare the pain intensity in punctures at earlobe and fingertip and to evaluate the interference of the puncture site on the values of capillary blood glucose test. Method: Descriptive and exploratory quantitative study. We evaluated 70 diabetes mellitus patients. The monitoring was randomly carried out, with G-TECH Free glucometer 1®. To assess pain intensity, it was used a numerical scale graded in 0 (absent), 1 (mild), 2 (mild), 3 ( moderate), and 4 (severe). Results: For patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, the average blood glucose was 274.38±22.64 mg/dL for earlobe and 298.33±4.58 mg/dL for fingertip. For Type 2 diabetes mellitus, results were 187.19±9.85 mg/dL for earlobe and 195.41±10.47 mg/dL for fingertip. There was correlation between blood glucoses measured in both puncture sites. For patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, there was no pain (0) in earlobe, and fingertip was 1.86±0.12. For patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, it was found that the average pain intensity for earlobe was 0.06±0.03 and for fingertip, 1.75±0.09. Conclusion: There was a statistical difference regarding the glycemic index generated by different sites. Lower pain intensity was observed when the test was done on the earlobe, as a good choice for test site.