Background: Flash glucose monitoring (FGM) systems can reduce glycemic variability and facilitate blood glucose management within the target range. However, in critically ill patients, only small (n < 30) studies have examined the accuracy of FGM and none have assessed the stability of FGM accuracy. We evaluated the accuracy and stability of FGM in critically ill patients.
Method: This was a single-center, retrospective observational study. We included a total of 116 critically ill patients who underwent FGM for glycemic control. The accuracy of FGM was assessed as follows using blood gas glucose values as a reference: (1) numerical accuracy using the mean absolute relative difference, (2) clinical accuracy using consensus error grid analysis, and (3) stability of accuracy assessing 14-day trends in consensus error grid distribution.
Results: FGM sensors remained in situ for a median of 6 [4, 11] days. We compared 2014 pairs of measurements between the sensor and blood gas analysis. Glucose values from the sensor were consistently lower, with a mean absolute relative difference of 13.8% (±16.0%), than those from blood gas analysis. Consensus error grid analysis demonstrated 99.4% of the readings to be in a clinically acceptable accuracy zone. The accuracy of FGM was stable across the 14 days after device insertion.
Conclusions: FGM had acceptable reliability and accuracy to arterial blood gas analysis in critically ill patients. In addition, the accuracy of FGM persisted for at least 14 days. Our study promotes the potential usefulness of FGM for glycemic monitoring in critically ill patients.
Keywords: critical care medicine; flash glucose monitoring; glycemic control; mean absolute relative difference.