Chapter 8 - Comparative evaluation of point-of-care glucometer devices in the management of diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The aim of the study is to evaluate and compare point-of-care glucometer devices using criteria such as cost of the device, turnaround time, detection method, enzyme/cofactor used, sample volume, and result range to ascertain their strengths and weakness in informing the choice of glucometer and aid in the care of diabetes. In this regard, fuzzy preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) was utilized to evaluate the devices such as Freestyle Lite, Accu-Chek Aviva, OneTouch Verio IQ, OneTouch Ultrasmart, TrueTrack, Contour USB, Omnitest 3, and iHealth Align. The fuzzy PROMETHEE uses a pair-wise comparison of alternatives for each criteria utilizing preference function, which is then aggregated using criteria weighting to provide a net outranking flow and hence a complete ranking of alternatives. These criteria are prioritized based on their importance to the patient since they are at the receiving end of the products. Considering the important criteria used, iHealth Align glucometer top the list, followed by Contour USB, Freestyle Lite, Omnitest 3, OneTouch Ultrasmart, OneTouch Verio IQ, TrueTrack, and Accu-Chek Aviva. However, this ranking can change based on the selected criteria and their assigned weights for specific patients or companies. The data given will be useful in choosing a glucometer device for diabetes patients and companies.