A Key Comparison on the determination of glucose in human serum organized by the Consultative Committee on Amount of Substance (CCQM) was carried out in 2001. To address the measurement traceability needs of the clinical chemistry community, the CCQM is undertaking Key Comparisons to document the capabilities of national metrology institutes (NMIs) that provide measurement services in this area. This Key Comparison, along with two others recently completed, CCQM-K6 and CCQM-K12, determination of total cholesterol and creatinine, respectively, in serum, will provide a basis for evaluating the capabilities of NMIs for the determination of well-defined, organic substances of similar molecular weights and concentrations in human serum.

Participants in CCQM-K11 included: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [USA], Coordinating Laboratory; Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) [S Korea]; and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) [Germany]. A frozen human serum material was analysed by each of the participants using ID-GC/MS-based methods. Agreement of results among the participants was good, with a relative range of <1%, yielding a Key Comparison Reference Value of 0.7762 ± 0.0088 mg/g. These results were in accordance with the good agreement found for two serum materials in a pilot study (CCQM-P8) involving the same participants.

In conclusion, three NMIs have demonstrated their ability to make reference measurements of glucose in serum using isotope dilution-based methods that, when executed properly, provide measurements that are precise, accurate and SI traceable.

Main text. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/.

The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM, according to the provisions of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).