We are having a bit of a hard time navigating the health systems of different countries to get regular blood tests and exams. We have some friends coming and I’d like to purchase a few A1c home test kits online to have our friends bring them over.
Does anyone have recommendations?
Afinion & DCA Advantage are the only ones that have been consistently found to be close to laboratory precision.
Comprehensive reviews:
https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/cclm.2017.55.issue-2/cclm-2016-0303/cclm-2016-0303.xml
Devices at bottom should be better than ones at top, but not for certain:
Since I frequently use the home A1C tests, I decided that whenever I get a lab A1C test I would also use a home test, to see how close it is (the same way you would check your BG meter by testing at the same time as when they do a blood draw BG!)
The ReliOn and the CVS home A1C tests (basically the same thing, just with different labeling) have always been very close.
I think the biggest difference I ever saw was 0.2. Usually they are the exact same, or within 0.1 points.
Usually they are $40 for two tests, but it looks like right now you can get them online, two for $27.99.
Not lab accuracy, but I have no complaints with these!
Great links! However, these are for Point Of Care tests, not for home use. I am looking for home kits to use at home 
They all should be able to be used at home, most are just very expensive. The A1C Now is listed in those studies, and that is the exact same machine as the CVS/ReliOn, with different logos.
Looking at it again, if cost is a factor, maybe getting a lot of strips for the A1C Now and just doing a few tests over a couple days may get high accuracy for the cost. 20 strips + machine is about $180 USD, or $6-7/test. Getting the 2 strip machine is less cost efficient. I think the machines are calibrated to the strips, so can’t order separately.
The meta-analysis above says most machines have a negative bias, so you could just pick the highest result of a few tests and would probably be closest to true.
This way would also yield your inter-assay coefficient of variation (%CV), which is an interesting thing to know. The international standard was made to be about 2% a decade or so ago. Typically it is 10%, but the A1C is stricter than others because very important not to misdiagnose patients.
https://www.salimetrics.com/calculating-inter-and-intra-assay-coefficients-of-variability/
Seems they updated to the A1c Now+ a few years ago. It is more reliable and fully certified (not sure if CVS/ReliOn also upgraded).
@oni, nice idea! I would not have thought to go pro and buy a bunch of test strips to go with it. I’ll see if I can make $ sense out of that, it may well work for us.
@Eric, thanks a bunch for the ref! I find out I cannot access the CVS site from Spain 
I’ll check Amazon for same.
I have also used the A1C Now home tests, and found them close to lab and POC (office visit) tests. But that has been at least 4-5 years ago.
For me, since using Dexcom, I don’t find much value in A1C, other than showing the doctor I still know what I’m doing and having records on file.
I can send you some if you want!
Get thee a VPN.
Thanks so much for all the help!
@Eric, @elver, that was super nice to offer! I looked at the A1c Now that @oni had pointed at (thanks very much, @oni!) and just bought the 20-strip version on Amazon: this gives us plenty for 1 year’s worth at 3 strips per test with a few to spare. I had it shipped to a friend who is flying over soon.
Is there really even a point to Home A1c if you have CGM? My A1c is always within a couple points of my CGM. I still do Dr. Office A1c solely to keep my insurance co happy, but really think it is a waste of money.
