A comparison of the Lactate Pro, Accusport, Analox GM7 and Kodak Ektachem lactate analysers in normal, hot and humid conditions

This study aimed to compare the performance of a new portable lactate analyser against other standard laboratory methods in three conditions, normal (20 +/- 1.3 C; 40 +/- 5% RH), hot (40 +/- 2.5 C; 40 +/- 5% RH), and humid (20 +/- 1.1 C; 82 +/- 6% RH) conditions. Seven healthy males, ([Mean +/- SE]: age, 26.3 +/- 1.3 yr; height, 177.7 +/- 1.6cm; weight, 77.4 +/- 0.9kg, VO2-max, 56.1 +/- 1.9 ml x kg x min(-1)) undertook a maximal cycle ergometry test to exhaustion in the three conditions. Blood was taken every 3 min at the end of each stage and was analysed using the Lactate Pro LT-1710(R), the Accusport(R), the Analox(C) GM7 and the Kodak(C) Ektachem(TM) systems. The MANOVA (Analyser Type x Condition x Workload) indicated no interaction effect (F-(42,F-660), = 0.45, p > 0.99, Power = 0.53). The data across all workloads indicated that the machines measured significantly differently to each other (F-(4.743), = 14.652, p < 0.0001, Power = 1.00). The data were moderately to highly correlated. We conclude that the Lactate Pro is a simple and effective measurement device for taking blood lactate in a field or laboratory setting. However, we would caution against using this machine to compare data from other machines.