Establishment of blood glucose monitoring system using the internet.

OBJECTIVE

The Internet is used worldwide as a communication tool. To improve the quality of diabetes control, we investigated the effectiveness of an Internet-based blood glucose monitoring system (IBGMS) on controlling the changes in HbA(1c) levels.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 110 patients who visited the outpatient clinic at the Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital for 3 months. The study subjects were treated with IBGMS for 12 weeks, and the control group received the usual outpatient management over the same period. HbA(1c) and other laboratory tests were performed twice, once at the beginning of the study and again at the end of the study.

RESULTS

The test results from the beginning of the study established that there were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to age, sex, diabetes duration, BMI, blood pressure, HbA(1c), and other laboratory data. On follow-up examination 12 weeks later, HbA(1c) levels were significantly decreased from 7.59 to 6.94% within the intervention group (P < 0.001). At the end of the study, HbA(1c) levels in the intervention group were significantly lower than in the control group after adjusting the baseline HbA(1c) (6.94 vs. 7.62%; P < 0.001, respectively). Among patients with baseline HbA(1c) <7.0%, the patients in the intervention group had lower HbA(1c) than those in the control group (6.38 vs. 6.99%; P < 0.05). Among the patients with a baseline HbA(1c) > or = 7.0%, the difference between the two groups appeared more obvious: HbA(1c) levels at the end of the study were 8.12%.

CONCLUSIONS

This new IBGMS resulted in a significant reduction of HbA(1c) during the study period. We propose that this IBGMS be used as a method for improving diabetes control.