Education and debate

Self monitoring of glucose by people with diabetes: evidence based practice

^a East Cornwall Hospital Bodmin Cornwall PL31 2EN

The inappropriate use of self monitoring of glucose is wasteful of NHS resources and can cause psychological harm. Although a few patients find that self monitoring enables them to understand and take control of their diabetes, many people with diabetes are performing inaccurate or unnecessary tests. There is no convincing evidence that self monitoring improves glycaemic control, nor that blood testing is necessarily better than urine testing. It may be appropriate for some patients not to monitor their own glucose but to rely instead on regular laboratory estimations of glycaemic control. Glucose self monitoring should be performed only when it serves an identified purpose.

It is widely assumed that glucose self monitoring, preferably of blood glucose concentrations, is desirable or even essential for everyone with diabetes. It is common for patients who have previously tested their urine, or have done no glucose monitoring at home, . . . [Full text of this article]

	Glycaemic control

	Guilt or empowerment?

	Reliability of tests

	Individual self monitoring plans

Box 1–Purposes of self monitoring of glucose

	Glucose monitoring methods

Urine testing
Blood testing
No self monitoring

	Frequency of testing

	Evidence based practice

Box 2–Self monitoring regimens

	Acknowledgements

	References

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Relevant Article

Self monitoring of blood glucose in type 2 diabetes

Martin Gulliford
BMJ 2008 336: 1139-1140. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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