Can Blood Glucose Monitoring be Simplified/Modified in Order to Achieve Better Diabetes Management—Perspectives for the Future

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) with reflectance meters was heralded as a major advance in the management of diabetes and has been available to individuals with diabetes for home use since the late 1970s. This tool was put to use in the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), which revolutionized care for individuals with type 1 diabetes, enabling these individuals to intensify their glucose control. SMBG has similar benefit in individuals with type 2 diabetes requiring insulin therapy. Its use in other individuals with type 2 diabetes treated with oral agents or non-insulin therapies is less clear. While SMBG is a potentially powerful tool to aid in the daily management of diabetes, to be used effectively, SMBG must be optimized to ensure the information derived from it can be acted on to modify physical activity, dietary intake, or medications to improve glycemic control. Recently, studies looking at this population have called into question the utility of SMBG in the management of individuals with type 2 diabetes treated with non-insulin therapies. However, these studies are lacking in the specifics of how such information was used to modify therapies. In addition to this, the lack of a universally accepted output for SMBG data significantly impedes its uptake and appropriate use by healthcare providers and patients. To maximize the effectiveness of SMBG, both patients and providers need to have a clear understanding of when and how to use SMBG data and, most importantly, act upon the data to effect a change in their diabetes management.