Self Monitoring Of Blood Glucose In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

According to the World Health Organization, at least 180 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes. Though prevalent throughout the world, diabetes is more common (especially type 2) in more developed countries like the United States. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse estimates that diabetes costs $132 billion in the United States alone every year. Given these estimates along with the projection that the worldwide incidence of diabetes will double in the next 20 years, 1 intensified research into better management of this chronic disease is paramount. Tighter control of blood glucose is advocated as a means to reduce microvascular and macrovascular complications. VA has performance measures assessing the proportion of patients meeting certain A1c goals, currently 7% and 9%. Theoretically, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) can improve compliance with recommendations on diet and exercise and medication regimens. The American Diabetes Association has recommended that the optimal frequency of SMBG for patients with type 2 diabetes should be adequate to facilitate reaching glucose goals. This hypothesis is based on the expectation that life style changes are facilitated by SMBG. Under these conditions, we should expect an improvement of glycemic control SMBG may decrease patient management costs, and because of the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes, efforts to establish the efficacy of SMBG in type 2 diabetes mellitus are of greater relevance. Methods to achieve improved glycemic control, and therefore a higher proportion of patients meeting target A1c levels, include diet, exercise, and medication. However, evidence supporting the use of SMBG for diabetics not requiring insulin is not as clear. The purpose of this review is to analyze the literature to answer four key questions given to us by VA: 1) Is regular self-monitoring of blood glucose effective in achieving target A1c levels for patients with type 2 diabetes?; 2) Is regular self-monitoring of blood glucose effective in maintaining target A1c levels for patients with type 2 diabetes?; 3) Does regular self-monitoring of blood glucose reduce the frequency of hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes?; 4) Is there evidence that different frequencies of testing result in differences in improvements in A1c?