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Worldwide spending on glucose monitoring
products is estimated at over $8.5 billion per year
and is growing. Yet, despite increasing evidence that
more frequent monitoring would enable improved control,
among insulin-using patients in particular, many patients
do not check their glucose levels at the frequency suggested.
On average, insulin-using patients check their blood
sugar less than twice daily.
Principal reasons for non-compliance
with prescribed monitoring approaches are the pain and
inconvenience involved in lancing a finger or arm to
obtain a blood sample for glucose measurement. The finger
has a particularly high density of capillaries, making
it an ideal site for a blood sample, but it also has
a high density of nerve-endings, making it a particularly
painful site for puncture.
Standard glucose monitoring can
be clinically complex and cumbersome, often leading
to discouraging compliance. Existing glucose monitors
experience error (including user error) up to 15-20%
or more compared with the best standard bench-top analyzers.
According to the American Diabetes Association, physicians
believe that an error of 10% or less is needed to achieve
clinically relevant endpoints in blood glucose control.
To SMSI®'s knowledge, no home blood glucose
monitors have been able to demonstrate a total error
within this range.
Regardless of the reasons for non-compliance
in testing, or the accuracy limitations of the readings,
there is a widespread desire for an accurate, automatic,
pain-free, continuous glucose monitor.
Copyright © 2011 Sensors for Medicine and Science, Inc.®
All rights reserved. Date of last update: 11/2/11.
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