A comparison of glucose concentration in paired specimens collected in serum separator and fluoride/potassium oxalate blood collection tubes under survey 'field' conditions.

Lois Fernandez, Penny Jee, Mari-Jill Klein, Peter Fischer, Sherry L Perkins, Stephen P J Brooks

Bureau of Nutritional Sciences, Food Directorate, Health Canada, Canada.

Clinical biochemistry 2013 Mar

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There are no direct comparisons of blood glucose values in samples collected with barrier serum tubes (SST) and NaF/potassium oxalate (NaF/KOx) plasma tubes. Collection of samples in SST tubes can offer considerable savings and specimen processing advantages for national level surveys. Serum and plasma samples were collected under 'field conditions' from a single draw of 3692 individuals participating in the Canadian Health Measures Survey. The samples were analyzed retrospectively using the VITROS GLU Slide method (glucose oxidase-based). There was a high rate of hemolysis in the NaF/KOx tubes (86.2%) while hemolysis was infrequently observed with the SST tubes (2%). Comparing only blood draws where no hemolysis was observed in both tubes (n=495; paired t-test) showed no effect of tube type on serum/plasma glucose concentrations. This was also observed when data was restricted to cases when only SST samples were not hemolyzed (n=3546; paired t-test). These data show that both collection tubes can be used under survey collection and processing conditions to measure glucose with our assay system with no difference in reported results. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Lois Fernandez, Penny Jee, Mari-Jill Klein, Peter Fischer, Sherry L Perkins, Stephen P J Brooks. A comparison of glucose concentration in paired specimens collected in serum separator and fluoride/potassium oxalate blood collection tubes under survey 'field' conditions. Clinical biochemistry. 2013 Mar;46(4-5):285-8