Nearly two-thirds of adults with diabetes in the United States perform self-monitoring of blood glucose at least daily, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The data come from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which surveys samples of more than 100,000 adults aged 18 years and older on a yearly basis. In 2006, 63% of respondents reported self-monitoring of blood glucose at least daily, compared with just 41% in 1997. Among those treated with insulin, the proportion rose to 87%, both figures exceeding the Healthy People 2010 national objective of 61%, the CDC said (MMWR 2007;56:1133–7).
Rates increased among all age groups from 1997 to 2006, from 44% to 66% for those aged 18–44 years, 43% to 62% among 45- to 64-year-olds, and from 37% to 66% among those aged 65–74 years.
The following factors were significantly positive associations with performing daily self-monitoring of blood glucose: having a high school education, compared with less education (adjusted odds ratio 1.4); having health insurance coverage (1.4); using oral medication only (2.7); using insulin only (11.0), or using both insulin and oral medication (7.8), compared with not using any medication. In addition, having annual physician visits was associated with an adjusted odds ratio ranging from 1.5 for 1–2 visits a year to 2.6 for 11 or more visits a year. Having ever taken a diabetes education course also significantly increased the odds of daily self-monitoring. By contrast, being male was associated with decreased odds of performing daily blood glucose monitoring (0.7).
Studies on the efficacy of daily blood glucose monitoring for patients with type 2 diabetes not treated with insulin remain inconclusive.
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