Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose - Essay Example

They were all provided a health survey questionnaire that gathered information about their demographic profiles and other behavioral and clinical data. The demographic data served as the study’s independent variables while the self-reported frequency of SBMG served as the dependent variable. The independent variables were mostly nominal and ordinal in nature while the dependent variable used the scale level of measurement. This information was then analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and means + SD, and the associated P values.

In addition, chi-square statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis test, and multivariate logistical regression analysis were likewise used. The results of the study indicate that although most patients reported some level of SMBG monitoring, 60% of those with type 1 diabetes and 67% of those with type 2 diabetes reported practicing SMBG less frequently than recommended by the American Diabetes Association (three to four times daily for type 1 diabetes, and once daily for type 2 diabetes treated pharmacologically).

Significant independent predictors of the nonadherent practice of SMBG included longer time since diagnosis, less intensive therapy, male sex, age, belonging to an ethnic minority, having a lower education and neighborhood income, difficulty communicating in English, higher out-of-pocket costs for glucometer strips (especially for subjects with lower incomes), smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption.This led the researchers to conclude that considerable gaps persist between actual and recommended SMBG practices in this large managed care organization.

A somewhat reduced SMBG frequency in subjects with linguistic barriers, some ethnic minorities, and subjects with lower education levels suggests the potential for targeted, culturally sensitive, multilingual health education. The somewhat lower frequency of SMBG among subjects paying higher out-of-pocket expenditures for strips suggests that removal of financial barriers by providing more comprehensive coverage for these costs may enhance adherence to recommendations for SMBG.Indeed, the study was able to bank on the extensive amount of information that it was able to acquire from the survey of the participants.

It may also be suggested for the researchers to consider even more factors to the frequency of SMBG.