LESS HASSLE = BETTER CONTROL?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION
Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) accounts for more than 90% of childhood and adolescent diabetes worldwide. Malaysian Diabetes in Children and Adolescents Registry reports that from year 2006 – 2008, T1DM made up 71.8% of diabetics under the age of 20 years. Good glycaemic control early in the disease has been shown to reduce chronic diabetes complications. However, management of this disease remains a challenge in most centers. A main contributing factor to a poor glycaemic control is inadequate home blood glucose monitoring, especially in younger children where pain from frequent finger pricking is a hindrance to frequent monitoring. Over the years, advancement of technology has facilitated better management of diabetes in many aspects. Of late, the introduction of a glucose flash monitor has reduced the need of frequent finger-prick checks. It allows more frequent monitoring of a patient’s glucose level in the body. This aims to achieve a better glycaemic control with better home blood glucose monitoring.

METHODOLOGY
Here, we observe the use of the glucose flash monitor in 10 of our T1DM patients and compared if there was a difference in their control pre and post usage of this new intervention.

RESULTS
We explored the factors that encouraged or discouraged these patients to use the glucose flash monitor over conventional finger-prick tests.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the advent of the glucose flash monitor has allowed for potentially much better glycaemic control among type 1 diabetes patients. However, patient education and knowledge remains the crux of matter – it is crucial to educate patients on the information garnered from such devices, to be able to utilize this technology to its full purpose.