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Biomedical subjects

L H Epstein

Publications and source records attributed to L H Epstein.

218 records · Page 13Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Accuracy in estimating fasting blood glucose levels by patients with diabetes.

This study was designed to assess the accuracy with which diabetic patients can estimate their fasting blood sugars (FBS) and to determine whether experience with self-monitoring of blood glucose improves this ability. Twenty patients with type II diabetes who had no experience with self-monitoring of blood glucose were compared with 17 patients who had been monitoring blood sugar regularly for the previous 8 mo. All patients were asked to estimate FBS immediately before it was measured in the laboratory. Patients were very accurate in estimating their FBS; the average error in estimation was 2 mg/dl, and 65% of patients estimated FBS within 20% of actual FBS. However, there was no evidence that experience in self-monitoring of blood glucose improved the accuracy of estimation. Additional studies are needed to determine the types of cues that patients use in estimating blood sugar.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Compliance to self-monitoring of blood glucose: a marked-item technique compared with self-report.

This study compared subjects' self-reported rates of compliance to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) with an objective measure based on a "marked-item" technique. We followed 25 obese patients with type II diabetes who were participating in a behavorial weight control program and monitoring their blood glucose with Chemstrips bG (Bio-Dynamics, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana). Subjects' self-report significantly overestimated actual compliance as assessed by the marked-item technique. Moreover, the self-report measure failed to identify 35-45% of the noncompliant patients. Compliance decreased steadily over the course of the 37-wk program. Accuracy of SMBG was less problematic than compliance; 85% of patients were able to read Chemstrips bG within 20% of actual blood sugar, and the average blood sugar reading obtained from 2 mo of SMBG correlated highly (r = 0.78, P less than 0.01) with HbA1. Our data suggest that objective measures such as the marked-item technique described in this article should be used to assess compliance to SMBG and behavioral strategies to improve compliance should be developed.

Adult↗