Blood glucose target
The American Diabetes Association recommends the following targets for most non-pregnant adults with diabetes. More or less stringent blood sugar targets may be appropriate for each individual, so your doctor or diabetes educator may recommend different targets.
How often should blood sugars be checked?
People with type 1 diabetes usually need to measure their blood glucose levels at least four times a day. People with type 2 diabetes who take insulin or other diabetes medications also need to measure their glucose levels regularly, according to their doctor’s recommendation.
Accuracy of blood sugar readings
The accuracy of fingerstick glucose readings depends on many factors
Glucose meter accuracy standards
When you check your blood glucose, the reading on the meter is telling you approximately what your blood sugar is. Some meters are more accurate than others (sometimes by a large margin). The FDA’s guidelines are that meter readings must be accurate to within 15% of the true glucose value, 95% of the time, and accurate within 20% of the true glucose value 99% of the time.
Let’s consider a theoretical example to demonstrate what this means. Imagine that your blood glucose level was 100, and you did 100 finger sticks to check your blood sugar. A meter with the accuracy described above would give you: