Effectiveness of self monitoring of blood glucose on glycaemic control among diabetic patients

ABSTRACT

Self monitoring of blood glucose [SMBG] is becoming of great importance for self management of diabetes mellitus. This study was formulated to detect the impact of decreased SMBG on glycaemic control among diabetic patients. The design of this study was a cross-sectional one. A sample size of 526 diabetic patients was selected from a diabetes clinic to reveal the impact of SMBG on fasting blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin A1c. The structured interview technique was adopted to collect both socio-demographic and clinical data of diabetic patients in addition to a fasting blood sample. Out of the total sample, 59.7% were performing SMBG, while only 18.6% were monitoring using this technique according to the recommended standard. Users of SMBG were more likely to have controlled fasting blood glucose [29.9% compared with 20.8%, P = 0.09] and controlled HbA1c [25.5% compared with 6.6%, P < 0.001] than non users. This impact was also evident after adjusting for the confounding factors. A decreasing trend in FBG was demonstrated with increased frequency of SMBG. Older age, higher level of education and positive family history proved to be significant predictors for using SMBG. SMBG can help diabetic patients to achieve a better glycaemic control especially if it is used in the recommended frequency. SMBG should be encouraged among all diabetic patients