People with diabetes have to do painful finger prick every day to measure their blood glucose. Researches have established a device that can measure blood glucose in sweat with the fingertip touch and then a personalized algorithm gives an accurate blood glucose level. 

Self-monitoring of blood glucose is the toughest part in managing diabetes, apart from this people also avoid testing because of the pain and inconvenience caused due to pricking fingers. Scientists have developed a new method to measure blood glucose in sweat, but because the sugar level is much lower in sweat than blood, the readings may vary as per the person's sweat rate and skin properties. Thus, accuracy is not high. 

The researchers have made a touch based sweat glucose sensor with polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel on the sensor which was screen printed onto a flexible plastic strip. When a volunteer placed a fingertip on the sensor for a minute, the hydrogel absorbs sweat. Inside the sensor, sweat glucose undergoes an enzymatic reaction that results in current that goes detected by a handheld device. The researchers also took the volunteer’s blood sugar with a finger prick, they develop a personalized algorithm that translates person's sweat glucose into blood glucose. The algorithm was more than 95% accurate in showing blood glucose levels.

To calibrate the device, a person needs to finger prick only once or twice per month. Researches say a large-scale study is still needed before implementing this device to manage diabetes.