Every glucometer has a different ‘range’ for its functioning. It would be a good idea to check your product insert or operator manual to look at the range in which the glucometer can function.
Most glucometers report two ranges:
- The reportable range
- The critical range
The reportable range is the range in which the glucose values are displayed. Anything above and below this is reported as HIGH or LOW.
Generally, glucometer has a reportable range upper limit as 600 mg/dl and lower limit as 11 mg/dl.
Hence reading between 11 to 600 mg/dl is displayed. Anything above or below this is displayed as LOW and HIGH, respectively.
The other range is the critical range. Typically the glucometers have a critical range of 40 mg/dl as low and 300 mg/dl as high.
This means that any value below or above this range needs urgent intervention. If your glucose is beyond the critical range, please consult your doctor or diabetes educator immediately.
Glucometers tend to be unreliable in the lower ranges. The degree of unreliability would depend on the manufacturer and other conditions.
It would be a good idea to look at the product insert or operator manual for more information on the same.
