The methodology of glucose monitoring in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease and maintaining a tight glycemic control is essential to prevent both microvascular and macrovascular complications, as demonstrated in previous studies. It is essential to monitor the glucose levels in order to achieve the targets. The blood glucose monitoring can be done by different methods: glycated haemoglobin A1c, self-monitoring of blood glucose (before and after meals) with a glucometer and continuous glucose monitoring with a system that measures interstitial glucose concentrations. Even though glycated haemoglobin A1c is considered the "gold standard" of diabetes care, it does not provide complete information about the magnitude of the glycemic disequilibrium. Therefore the self-monitoring and continuous monitoring of blood glucose are considered an important adjunct for achieving and maintaining optimal glycemic control. The three methods of assessing glycemic control: HbA1c, SMBG and CGMS provide distinct but at the same time complementary information.