Self-monitoring with a home glucometer as a reliable method for controlling for diabetes mellitus type 1: pilot study

Abstract

Introduction. According to current clinical guidelines for the effective treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) in children and adolescents, regular self-monitoring of blood glucose using a glucose meter is an integral part of all training and long-term follow-up programs.Aim. To evaluate the clinical and metabolic efficiency of the method of self-monitoring of glycemia with a home glucometer in patients with diabetes DM1.Materials and methods. The study included 107 patients with DM1 using the method of self-monitoring of glycemia using a home glucometer. Based on the received reports was evaluated the average level of glycemia, glycemia above the target range, time in range, glycemia below the target range, frequency of hypoglycemia, the frequency of daily measurements, as well as glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Statistical analysis was carried out using the program IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0.Results. During the work, children and adolescents with DM1 showed a decrease in HbA1c from 8.5% [7.2; 9.7] to 8.0% [6.9; 9.0] (p < 0.005). There was a decrease in TAR and TBR by 5 and 0.4%, respectively (p = 0.002, p < 0.001), which causes an increase in TIR from 44.4% [33; 56] to 49.8% [32; 75] (p = 0.003). During the study, patients were divided into groups according to the frequency of daily measurements, which revealed a decrease in HbA1c from 8.2% [7.2; 9.4] to 7.8% [6.9; 8.8] (p < 0.001) in the group with a frequency of daily measurements 6 per a day and more compared with the group where the frequency of measurements was less than 6 per a day.Findings. Conscious self-monitoring, combined with quality physician support, ensures the achievement of diabetes targets and a decrease in glycemic variability when using the self-monitoring method with a home glucometer. Using specialized software to work with a home glucometer helps to reduce the time to achieve compensation for type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents.