Validation of the Nova Point-of-Care Testing StatStrip &bgr;-Ketone Test in a Laboratory and Clinical Setting

Abstract

E ach year in Belgium, 2000 patients are newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 23,500 patients with type 2 DM. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a severe acute complication of DM, with a prevalence around 30% in type 1 DM and 6% in type 2 DM. Guidelines advocate whole-blood measurement of beta-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) for the management of DKA, making point-of-care testing (POCT) devices for glucose and ketones an important and lifesaving tool. At the request of our emergency department (ED), the POCT hospital meter StatStrip (Nova Biomedical, Waltham, Mass) was installed on trial.