For many people with type 2 diabetes, daily blood glucose checks are a fact of life. Individuals with type 2 diabetes have to closely monitor their blood glucose levels so that they can find a healthy balance.

People who aren’t reliant on insulin as part of their type 2 diabetes treatment may find that daily blood glucose monitoring isn’t guaranteed to improve their overall quality of life with diabetes. Since diabetes affects everyone differently, every physician has to create a unique treatment plan for each person.

Type 2 diabetes management

Most people with type 2 diabetes don’t require insulin therapy, especially in the early stages of the disease. Managing diabetes is fairly simple, and people can mitigate the side effects and complications of the disease by tracking their weight, eating a healthy diet, and creating a few new healthy habits.

Researchers studied how self-managed blood glucose testing affected people with type 2 diabetes who didn’t rely on insulin treatments. They found that haemoglobin A1c levels and HRQOL didn’t change even if the study participants monitored their blood glucose levels every day. There were no significant changes between any of the study groups, one of which tested their blood glucose daily, and the other that didn’t check it at all.

The researchers involved in the study also monitored the overall health of the study participants but found that there were no major medical events (such as low blood sugar or emergency room visits) that differentiated any of the groups from one another.

Changing diabetes treatments

The researchers on the study recommended that doctors examine whether or not people who aren’t receiving insulin for their type 2 diabetes need to check their blood glucose levels daily. Again, as diabetes is incredibly individual, it looks different for every person who has it. Doctors and patients should be aware of the potential benefits and costs of something like daily blood glucose monitoring and if it really does improve the health of their patients over time.