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With the increased acceptance of glycated hemoglobin measurement as the test of choice for the diagnosis and detection of diabetes, doubts which surround the use of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in detecting disturbances in glucose levels have become even more apparent. Metabolically, there are still arguments to use the OGTT. Epidemiological studies though, have not always supported the efficacy of the OGTT when used for screening in obese patients. In our opinion, current evidence suggests an additive value of the OGTT, its main advantage being the ability to detect stages of pre-diabetes more accurately than HbA1c and the ability to investigate postprandial glucose levels in a physiological way.

With more and more continuous glucose monitoring devices entering the market, the importance of adequate accuracy assessment grows. This review discusses pros and cons of Regression Analysis and Correlation Coefficient, Relative Difference measures, Bland Altman plot, ISO criteria, combined curve fitting, and epidemiological analyses, the latter including sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for hypoglycaemia. Finally, recommendations for much needed head-to-head studies are given. This paper is a revised and adapted version of How to assess and compare the accuracy of continuous glucose monitors?, Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics 2007, in press, published with permission of the editor.