Reliability and accuracy of six hand-held blood lactate analysers

The reliability and accuracy of five portable blood lactate (bla) analysers (lactate pro,lactate pro2,lactate scout+,xpress™,and edge) and one handheld point-of-care analyser (i-stat) were compared to a criterion (radiometer abl90). two devices of each brand of analyser were assessed using 22 x 6 ml blood samples taken from five subjects at rest and during exercise who generated lactate ranging ~1-23 mm. each sample was meas-ured simultaneously ~6 times on each device. reliability was assessed as the within-sample standard deviation (wssd) of the six replicates; accuracy as the bias compared with the abl90; and overall error (the root mean squared error (√mse)) was calculated as the square root of (wssd2 and bias2). the √mse indicated that both the edge and xpress had low total error (~0-2 mm) for lactate concentrations <15 mm,whereas the edge and lactate pro2 were the better of the portable analysers for concentrations >15 mm. in all cases,bias (negative) was the major contribution to the √mse. in conclusion,in a clinical setting where bla is generally <15 mm the edge and xpress devices are relevant,but for athlete testing where peak bla is important for training prescription the edge and lactate pro2 are preferred. © 2014,journal of sports science and medicine.