Evaluation of the interference of paracetamol on blood glucose measurement: A randomized laboratory trial

Abstract

Data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) indicate that 8.8% of the world's population suffers from diabetes. Glycemic dosage is one of the most important laboratory parameters for the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease. That is why it is of paramount importance to guarantee doctors and the patient a reliable, safe and error-free report. It is known that the majority of the population uses medications randomly and without a prescription. Many drugs can interfere with the analytical methods of various laboratory tests. The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro interference of the drug paracetamol in glycemic dosage by the glucose oxidase method, which the literature reports is the most used method in glycemic dosages and which is susceptible to interference by paracetamol. Glycemic measurement of a control sample was performed with commercial serum of known value, at a concentration of 100 mg/dl, and commercial serum samples submitted to different concentrations of paracetamol, ranging from 10 μg/ml to 5 mg/ml. A significant decrease (p<0.0001) in blood glucose was observed in the samples with the presence of paracetamol at concentrations of 200 μg/ml and 5mg/ml. The present study demonstrated a negative correlation between increasing concentrations of acetaminophen and glycemic dosage.