Comparison of Fingertip vs Palm Site Sampling on Pain Perception, and Variation in Capillary Blood Glucose Level among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Introduction: Glycaemic status of the patient is often monitored using capillary blood glucose
test which is fairly accurate. Traditional finger stick sampling is done to obtain sample, which
can be painful and may be a barrier for repeated testing. The current study was conducted to
compare fingertip and palm site sampling on pain perception, and variation in capillary blood
glucose level.
Methods: This study was conducted among 284 diabetic patients, who were selected by
convenience sampling method. The data was collected by measuring capillary blood glucose
levels from fingertip and palm site of the left hand at an interval of 10 minutes using a standard
glucometer. The level of pain perceptions was measured with a numerical rating pain scale.
Data analysis was accomplished using descriptive analysis, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-
Wallis test.
Results: The level of pain perception at the palm site (2) was lesser than fingertip (3) which was
significant at P < 0.001. 223 (78.52%) of the participants experienced more pain at fingertip
than palm site, the difference in the measured capillary blood glucose level between fingertip
[mean (SD): 226.65 (87.86)] and palm site [mean (SD): 225.65(92.13)] was minimum. The
agreement of palm site was 90.7% in single measurement and 95.1% in average measurement.
Conclusion: The present study concludes that, majority of the participants experienced less pain
perception at the palm site sampling (alternate site sampling) than fingertip sampling with very
minimal variation in the blood glucose level.

Keywords: Blood glucose self-monitoring, Pain, Blood glucose, Diabetes mellitus