Abbott Laboratories, MediSense Products will highlight new research related to its Precision Xtra Advanced Diabetes Management System in the currently held American Diabetes Association (ADA) meeting at San Francisco. Precision Xtra, a comprehensive blood glucose monitoring system, which tests for both blood glucose and ketone, is the subject of four research abstracts accepted to the ADA meeting.

In one study the effectiveness of blood ketone testing was compared with urine ketone testing. The results showed that use of Precision Xtra for blood ketone testing reduced the number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations for children, adolescents and young adults with Type 1 diabetes.

Precision Xtra is the only home glucose monitor that also allows people with diabetes to test their blood for ketone levels, which, when elevated can signify a risk for developing diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a life-threatening situation due to acute insulin deficiency. DKA must be recognized and treated as soon as possible. The study, entitled "Sick Day Management (SDM) using Blood ß-hydroxybutyrate (ßOHB) vs. Urine Ketones Significantly Reduces Hospital Visits in Youth with T1DM: A Randomized Clinical Trial," was conducted by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and the New England Diabetes & Endocrinology Center (NEDEC) in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Each year, more than 100,000 people with diabetes miss work or school or experience costly hospital visits because of failed sick day management. The goal of the research at Joslin and NEDEC was to evaluate the effectiveness of both blood and urine ketone testing during routine and sick day management among youth, ages 3 to 23. In this prospective study, participants were randomly assigned to two groups - those testing urine ketones (U-test group) and those testing blood ketone (B-test group) with Precision Xtra. Study results demonstrated that significantly more patients using the blood ketone method checked their ketones during sick days (91 percent), compared with patients using the urine ketonemethod(56 percent). In addition, hospitalizations among blood ketone patients were significantly fewer than those among urine ketone patients, 9 per 100 patient-years vs. 25 per 100 patient-years, respectively.

"Diabetic ketoacidosis poses a very serious, very real risk for many people with diabetes, particularly those with Type 1," said Dr. Lori MB Laffel, chief of the Pediatric and Adolescent Unit and investigator in the Genetics and Epidemiology Section, Joslin Diabetes Center. "Our research demonstrated that self-monitoring of blood ketones provides persons with diabetes with an effective, and convenient method for ketone testing that appears superior to the traditional method of urine ketone testing. Use of the home blood glucose and blood ketone meter provides patients with diabetes and their health care teams an opportunity to better manage sick days and avoid the need for emergency assessment and hospitalization."

The study findings were in line with a recent Position Statement issued by the ADA regarding ketone testing, which highlighted the limitations involved with urine ketone testing. "Blood ketone testing methods ... are available and are preferred over urine ketone testing for diagnosing and monitoring ketoacidosis." (ADA Position Statement: "Tests of Glycemia in Diabetes," Diabetes Care, Vol. 25, Suppl. 1, Jan. 2002).

Other research on Precision Xtra (a.k.a. Optium in Europe) being featured at the ADA meeting includes studies on blood ketone testing from France, Italy and the UK .

"We are pleased to be presenting global research that supports the effectiveness of the Precision Xtra Advanced Diabetes Management System," said Ed Fiorentino, vice president, Abbott Laboratories, MediSense Products. "Precision Xtra plays an important role in the MediSense family of blood glucose management tools. It is truly a comprehensive monitoring device with a host of features that makes it appeal to the whole spectrum of people with diabetes."