Home blood glucose monitoring in type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine which of two simplified blood glucose monitoring schemes promotes better metabolic control in type1 diabetic patients during 12 months of participation in educational groups. METHODS: A crossover clinical trial involving 21 patients divided into two groups was conducted. They were submitted to a two monitoring schemes:2 alternate daily preprandial measurements and 2 alternate daily pre-and postprandial measurements. The effectiveness of the schemes was evaluated based on HbA1c. Variations in mean HbA1c were analyzed by Friedman test. RESULTS: The groups were homogenous in terms of sociodemographic and clinical variables (p>0.05). Mean HbA1c levels ranged from 8.48 (±1.00) to 7.37 (±0.99) over time in Group A and from 9.89 (±0.86) to 8.34 (±1.06) in Group B. The analysis of the HbA1c showed a significant reduction in the first and last 6 months and over the 12 months of the study in two groups (p<0.05). The preprandial scheme demonstrated the largest number and highest percentage of significant drops in HbA1c. CONCLUSIONS: The two monitoring improved the metabolic control and the preprandial scheme was more effective.