[Self-monitoring of blood glucose and understanding of the disease in patients with insulin-treated diabetes. Correlation with metabolic regulation]. / Selvmonitorering af blodglukose og sygdomsforståelse hos patienter med insulinbehandlet diabetes. Sammenhaeng med metabolisk regulation.

ABSTRACT

A questionnaire investigation was undertaken to register the extent to which 212 insulin-treated diabetic patients undertook home measurements of blood glucose and the consequences which they drew from these measurements. This was compared with the metabolic regulation estimated by HbA1c. The average HbA1c-value was 8.0%. Only 13% had HbA1c-values within the reference range for non-diabetic persons. 85% of the patients undertook self-monitoring of blood glucose. In 47.6% insulin was administered once or twice daily, 42.5% were treated with multiple injections and 9.9% employed insulin pumps. Regardless or the form of treatment, good metabolic control was associated with numerous daily measurements of blood glucose whereas no independent connection was found between the form of treatment and the level of regulation. The best regulated patients altered the dosage of insulin with low blood glucose values and planned reduced activity. No connection was observed between the form of treatment, level of regulation or whether the patients undertook self-monitoring and the number of hospital contacts on account of hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia. Metabolic regulation was not satisfactory despite self monitoring of blood glucose and good understanding of the disease.