Blood glucose: sampling from the ear was less painful than from the thumb

Clinical bottom line (level 1b)

  1. A random blood glucose sample taken from the earlobe was less painful than from the thumb.
Carley et al: British Medical Journal 2000; 321 : 20-
Expires October 2003

The study

Unblinded concealed randomised trial with intention-to-treat
Setting: emergency department, university hospital, UK

60 patients (aged mean 53, 50% male) requiring random blood glucose assessment

Excluded if
  • altered sensation or lesion at any test site
  • aged < 16
  • dysphasic or less than alert on the AVPU scale
  • bleeding disorder

    Note:
  • Patients measured pain using a visual analogue scale.

    Control Group: (n = , analysed): thumb used to collect blood sample
    Experimental Group: (n = , analysed): earlobe used to collect blood sample

    100% followed for 5 minutes

    The evidence

  • Patients in the earlobe group experienced less pain than patients in the thumb group (p = 0.01)

    Comments

    1. There were 5 first time failures in the ear group compared with 2 in the thumb group. The study was not large enough to show a difference for the failure rate.

    Citation

    1. Carley SD, Libetta C, Flavin B, et al: an open prospective randomised trial to reduce the pain of blood glucose testing: ear versus thumb. British Medical Journal 2000; 321 : 20-
    Contributor: Chris Ball, October 2001
    Reviewer:

    Clinical Question.
    Patient requiring random blood glucose assessment
    Intervention or Exposure earlobe
    Comparison thumb
    Outcome pain
    		•