Self blood glucose monitoring among diabetic patients in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Self blood glucose monitoring (SBGM) is important in the management of people living with diabetes. This study set out to evaluate the knowledge and practice of SBGM in diabetic patients at our clinic in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Ninety (90) diabetic patients attending the clinic were assessed with self-administered questionnaires. There were 36 (40%) males and 54 (60%) females with a mean age of 54±23 years, and a mean duration of diabetes of 8 years. Eighty-one (90%) had type 2 diabetes while nine (10%) had type 1 diabetes. Eighteen type 2 patients (20%) were on insulin alone, 52 (58%) on oral drugs, and 20 (22%) were on a combination. Fifty-two patients knew only about using glucose meters for SBGM, 30 knew about using both meters and urine dipsticks, and 4 did not know of any method. Only 24 (27%) patients had glucose meters and no type 1 patient had a meter. The highest frequency of monitoring was once daily in six patients. None of the patients practised urine monitoring. In conclusion, this study has shown that the practice of SBGM in our patients is inadequate despite reasonable knowledge of the technique. This is most likely due to scarce resources. The importance of SBGM should be emphasised more in our practice, especially in patients with type 1 diabetes, and there should be motivation for improved self-monitoring resources