Strength and Limitation
A main strength of our study is the relatively large sample size with 230 women from different ethnic backgrounds. Both fasting and at 2-hour time-points of OGTT were available for all patient and performed by competent staff which minimises operator errors. It is the first study to use NICE 2015 diagnostic thresholds for POC and Lab-VPG comparison. To our knowledge this is the only study using the POC-StatStrip® meter on an antenatal cohort, with its unique haematocrit measurement, which is particularly important due to the effect of pregnancy on haematocrit. We acknowledge that the proposed protocol of checking POC- StatStrip® first with the result determining the need for venous sampling and laboratory testing can increase complexity so staff training and support prior to implementing this protocol would be essential.