Self - monitoring in diabetes

Summary points about self-monitoring

• strict control of blood glucose levels improves outcomes in patients with either type I or type II diabetes. However, it is not clear whether self-monitoring contributes to this improvement
• self-monitoring of blood glucose might be most appropriate for patients with type I or type II diabetes who use insulin and adjust their dose as a result of blood glucose testing, and for all diabetics when they have intercurrent illness
• the ideal frequency of self-monitoring in type II diabetes is not known
• there is no evidence that blood testing is more effective than urine testing at improving blood glucose control in people with type II diabetes

Reference:

1. MeReC Bulletin (July 2002), 13(1),1-4.