Cellphone system ups glucose self-monitoring in pregnancy

(HealthDay)—For pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus or type 2 diabetes, use of a cellphone-Internet technology (CIT) system, which collects and sends glucose readings directly to a cellphone, is associated with improved compliance in self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), according to a report published in the October issue of Clinical Diabetes.

Marguerite Lisa Bartholomew, M.D., from the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu, and colleagues compared a conventional voicemail system (control) with a CIT system for management of hyperglycemia during pregnancy. Seventy-four women were randomized to either CIT or control for the first three weeks (40 and 34 women, respectively); participants then switched to the other method.

The researchers found that compliance with SMBG reporting was higher for total, fasting, and two-hour postprandial glucose values with use of the CIT method. The highest compliance rate was seen for women who used the CIT first (91.7 percent), which was significantly higher than CIT compliance among women who used the voicemail method first (P = 0.048). More women preferred the CIT method versus the voicemail method (68.9 versus 24.3 percent; P < 0.001).

"The use of CIT for self-management of hyperglycemia during pregnancy increased glucose reporting compliance by a small but statistically significant amount compared to the use of the traditional control method (voicemail)," the authors write.

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