Any recent tests of BG meter accuracy?

Diabetes Technology
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As far as I know, only two recent reports of BG meter accuracy are available on the Internet and neither is very recent. Does anyone know of more recent tests?

Here is what I found about these two reports.

  1. Diabetes Technology Society (DTS)
    During 2013-2015, DTS carried out an extensive study with 1034 patients of 18 BG meter/test strip systems then available. Each system was evaluated with at least 300 test-strip measurements. These were compared with plasma glucose results from blood drawn at the same time and measured in professional laboratory instruments.

The web page https://www.diabetestechnology.org/surveillance.shtml gives an overview of the results. Near the top of this web page is a link to the complete report of the methods and analysis of the results, published in 2018. The published paper gives me the impression that the research was well done.

The system found by DTS to be the most accurate was the Bayer Contour Next system. All of its (plasma-adjusted) BG results were within 15% of the reference value, and 97% were within 10%. (In June 2015 Bayer sold their diabetes care division to Panasonic Healthcare which renamed it Ascencia Diabetes Care.)

Now, six or eight years after the DTS tests, some questions come to mind. Can we still trust those results? Are the manufacturers keeping up their quality control? Does Ascencia maintain the same standards as Bayer did? How do meters introduced since 2015 perform?

  1. The Consumer Reports website shows ratings for systems that were available some years ago, but it states they are not currently testing BG meter systems and warns that some of the systems they ranked best may no longer be available. The date of their tests is not revealed; it may have been more than 10 years ago.

The criteria for CR’s ratings are not well explained and include subjective judgements of convenience as well as accuracy and reproducibility. Only one of CR’s five recommended systems, the FreeStyle Lite, was also tested by DTS and given their seal of approval.

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You might think that any recent tests follow the new (2018-2020) FDA guidlines for evaluating bg meter accuracy. But I have not seen any published stating that they were using the new guidelines. Warning - lots of pages about testing with interfering substances! To see the full guidelines, click this link then on “Download The Final Guidance Document”: Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose Test Systems for Over-the-Counter Use | FDA

That said, for many of us, we we either use whatever brand our insurance covers, or (if no actual coverage for bg measuring) we use the store-brand CVS/Walgreens/Walmart meters. In past several years I only use fingersticks a couple times a week as cross-check on CGM readings so I am not the most discerning consumer.

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I’ve read reports I’ve gotten at Endo CME sessions. The Bayer Contour meters consistenly score high in the accuracy studies. What was very illuminating for me personally, is that the One Touch have been shown to read higher than actual for people with chronic anemia. I was having issues were my Dexcom would alert as to a low or pending low and the One Touch confirmation fingerstick would be either I was in range (60-120) or high enough to require a correction bolus (180+). Explained a lot of scary hypos.