Self-monitoring blood glucose: is it useful?
Conventional wisdom says that diabetics who monitor their own blood glucose should maintain tighter control, but the evidence is not convincing.
As the authors of this paper point out, the number of type 2 diabetics is rising around the world, and with it comes an increasing challenge to monitor and manage the disease successfully. Self-monitoring of blood glucose by people with type 2 diabetes has been thought to improve glycaemic control and is recommended. But this study of 453 patients with type 2 diabetes, incorporating 48 general practices in Oxfordshire and South Yorkshire, did not provide convincing evidence that self monitoring blood glucose improved glycaemic control.
Researchers split the participants into two groups – training one group in the use of self-monitoring devices and advising them to regularly contact their doctors with the results and another group who were trained to interpret their results and act on them. A control group consisted of patients who had standardised care, with glycosylated haemoglobin measurements every three months. At 12 months, the differences in glycosylated haemoglobin between the three groups was not significant, suggesting that self-monitoring is not as effective as previously supposed – and is no better than normal care.
Farmer A et al. The British Medical Journal 2007; 335
See the full text of this article here http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7611/132
