In recent years, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), which does not require fasting, has been used to screen for diabetes.

The approach has limitations such as the need for fasting. 9 In most settings, blood glucose testing of diabetes has been replaced by the oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT). 7, 8 Given the gravity of the diabetes situation in South Africa, introduction of POCT through public health screening programmes is gaining momentum.īlood glucose testing is normally used as the standard in screening, diagnosing and monitoring of diabetes and is performed by measuring venous fasting plasma glucose or random capillary blood glucose.

The prevalence is as high as 17.1% in the South African Indian population and 10.8% in mixed ancestry population. 6 In South Africa, the prevalence of the disease is about 5.5% in adults over the age of 30 and is rising especially in Black African populations. 5 In Sub-Saharan Africa, diabetes incidence is increasing at an alarming rate, mainly due to rural-to-urban drift, globalization and major changes in lifestyles and nutrition. 4 T2DM constitutes about 90–95% of all diabetes cases and it is estimated that about 194 million adults have diabetes worldwide. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is becoming a major public health concern worldwide especially in developing countries. It is therefore necessary to validate and compare POCT devices against the centralised hospital-based analysers, where patients may be referred to for further management. One test carried out is glycaemic control for diabetics or general screening for diabetes. POST involves spot testing and analysis to people in public places such as shopping malls and airports and gymnasiums. 3 Pointof-service testing (POST), another form of POCT, has emerged due to health awareness and availability of testing devices. However, the efficacy of POCT requires cooperative efforts of clinicians and laboratory scientists. 2 POCT is useful because of the need to make a quick diagnosis and management to shorten hospitalisation or reduction in hospital trips by patients. 1 In retrospect, visual examination of urine (uroscopy) was used as POCT by Hippocrates (400 BC) for disease prognosis, and later by Theophilus (700 AD) as a diagnostic tool.

Point of care testing (POCT) refers to testing performed outside the central laboratory using a device (s) that can be easily transported to the vicinity of the patient.

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