Many adults with type 2 diabetes check their blood glucose levels multiple times daily — even if they aren’t taking medications associated with hypoglycemia — according to a retrospective analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The American Board of Internal Medicine’s Choosing Wisely campaign recommends avoiding multiple daily glucose tests in adults with stable disease who aren’t using hypoglycemia-inducing agents.
Using a medical claims database, researchers studied 370,000 adults with type 2 diabetes who weren’t receiving insulin. About one-fourth had at least three claims for glucose test strips over 1 year, more than half of whom were considered to be possibly using the test strips inappropriately. For example, a large proportion were either taking diabetes medications not associated with hypoglycemia (e.g., metformin), or had no claims for diabetes medications.
Patients who were inappropriately using test strips used a median of two strips per day. The median claims payment for test strips was roughly $325; the mean consumer copayment was $18.
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Source: NEJM journal watch
