Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare blood glucose levels, which were prepared from NaF and lithium heparin anticoagulants for diabetes mellitus (DM) screening test. DM-check up Clinic at Kutchap Hospital, Udonthani province collected the blood samples and filled sodium fluoride (NaF) and lithium heparin tubes (Greiner Bio-One, Austria) from 300 customers. Then, plasma was separated immediately from each blood sample tube by centrifugation and analyzed for blood glucose level by automatic analyzer, Cobas c111 automated chemistry analyzer (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannhein, Germany). Four groups of samples were divided to the all sample group, normal group, prediabetic group and diabetic group according by American Diabetes Association. The result was presented as blood glucose levels of NaF plasma and lithium heparinized plasma in normal and prediabetic groups, which corresponded significantly (p < 0.05). This may imply that lithium heparin tube can replace NaF tube and not affect DM diagnosis when immediately analyzing blood glucose levels.  In addition, lithium heparin tubes can collect blood samples for other biochemical tests. This may reduce turnaround time, cost, and mistakes from sample overload, and also labour spending on laboratory staff.

Key words: Diabetes mellitus, blood glucose, fasting blood sugar, sodium fluoride, lithium heparin.