Joint optical-electrical technique for noninvasive glucose monitoring

in diabetes mellitus, self monitoring of blood glucose is crucial for effective treatment since it can help identify and prevent unwanted periods of hypo- and hyperglycemia; this monitoring procedure usually involves finger-stick testing which is painful to the patient and carries the risk of infection. non-invasive techniques, including impedance and near infrared spectroscopy, have been developed to predict glucose concentration; however, these techniques have not reached the accuracy needed for glucose monitoring. in this work a new concept which involves the combination of two spectroscopic measurements, electrical impedance spectroscopy and near infrared spectroscopy, is developed to decrease the prediction error of single-measurement non-invasive glucose monitoring systems. electrical impedance and near infrared spectroscopy measurements were performed under controlled temperature and humidity conditions on ten non-diabetic volunteers (age 26.1 ± 3.7 years, bmi 25.24 ± 3.67 kg/m2). the results show that all of the values predicted by the joint optical-electrical technique were clinically acceptable and the root mean squared error of prediction, which in this study was compared to a commercial glucose meter, is lower than previously published values for near infrared spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy done separately.