Cultural diversity as a factor in self-monitoring blood glucose in gestational diabetes

The routine use of self-monitoring of capillary blood glucose by pregnant diabetic patients currently provides the basis for both clinical management and ongoing investigation. Strategies must therefore be developed to ensure that these data are reliable and accurately reported by patients and are not influenced by diverse socioeconomic levels or varied geographic locations. To explore this issue, we used glucose reflectance meters with a memory microchip capable of storing up to 440 consecutive blood glucose determinations. Two diverse groups of women from Texas and New York who had gestational diabetes performed self-monitoring of blood glucose from diagnosis until delivery. Both groups recorded their blood glucose results daily in a logbook. The reporting performance of all the participating subjects resulted in an actual compliance rate of 60% to 70% of testings required of the patients. Comparison of African-American, Mexican-American, and white populations revealed no significant differences in patient performance or compliance. Moreover, no differences were found between the groups at different geographic locations (New York, Texas) in patients' willingness and ability to comply with the regimen of self-monitoring blood glucose. These findings suggest that the use of memory reflectance meters, in conjunction with patient education and positive interaction between patient and care provider, will result in high patient compliance regardless of socioeconomic level or ethnic diversity.