Background: Monitoring blood glucose and strict glycemic control is important particularly in ICU settings to reduce mortality/morbidity. Various methods can be used to measure the blood glucose, but its reliability in critically ill patient with hypotension and that too on vasopressor support is doubtful. Thus this study was planned to compare accuracy of arterial, capillary and venous glucose measurement in patient with shock and on vasopressor.

Methods: It is a prospective study conducted on 50 patients admitted in ICU of KIMS hospital, Bangalore, India. Out of 50 included patients, 25 patients who were taken as a study group had hypotension and were on vasopressor support, while rest 25 who were taken as control were normotensive patients. Three samples (one arterial, one capillary and one venous) were tested simultaneously from each patient from both the group for blood glucose levels.

Results: Out of 50 patients, 34 patients were male and 16 were female, with the mean age of 48 +/- 10 years. In study group, the mean arterial glucose was 159.6 ± 72.8 mg/dl, mean venous glucose was 158.9 ± 71.4 mg/dl, and mean capillary glucose was 153.2 ± 68.3 mg/dl, while in control group, the mean arterial glucose was 164.1 ± 63 mg/dl, mean venous glucose was 163.2 ± 62.1 mg/dl, and mean capillary glucose was 162.9 ± 64.2 mg/dl. There was a significant difference between the arterial/venous and capillary measurements of blood glucose levels in study group with significant p value (p = 0.039) as compared to control group.

Conclusion: Arterial or venous blood sample may be more relevant as compared to capillary blood for estimating glucose in patients on inotropes.

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Dr Ashootosh Pakale

Junior Resident, Department Of General Medicine, Kims Hospital, Banaglore, India

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