The spectrophotometric determination of glucose in blood or urine is commonly used for diabetes testing in Honduras. However, the high cost of spectrophotometers often limits access to diabetes testing in this and other developing countries. To make this testing more accessible, a highly-affordable light-emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer was designed and built using the best engineering practices and state-of-the-art electrical components. The cost and performance of this LED spectrophotometer was compared against three common commercial spectrophotometers. More specifically, the performance of these spectrophotometers was evaluated from the upper limits of linear range, upper limits of operational range, calibration sensitivities, R<sup>2</sup> values, precisions of standards, estimated limits of detection, and percent calibration check standard recoveries for the determination of glucose using o-toluidine in glacial acetic acid. The parts for our LED spectrophotometer costs $53. The 3 commercial spectrophotometers ranged in price from $2,382 to $3,382. Our results suggest that the LED spectrophotometer has upper limits of linear range, upper limits of operational range, calibration sensitivities, R<sup>2 </sup>values, precisions of standards, estimated limits of detection, and percent calibration check standard recoveries that are generally comparable to those of the three commercial spectrophotometers used in this study. This LED spectrophotometer is highly affordable and could be used to make diabetes testing in Honduras and other developing countries more widely accessible.

Accurate, precise, and affordable light emitting diode spectrophotometer for diabetes testing in Honduras

2019 Fall National Meeting

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