Do All Diabetics Need Daily Tests?

Filed in archive Views on October 30, 2006

That was the question at a recent diabetes forum. The answer? It depends, but many feel daily testing is a waste of money and time.

Daily glucose monitoring is a waste of time and money for the vast majority of diabetics, a growing number of doctors and researchers argue.

In an emerging debate, many experts now believe that type 2 diabetics -- who are not insulin dependent -- are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on daily tests that offer them no usable information.

"The main reason that people are still testing is because of the triumph of emotion and opinion over evidence," said Dr. Sumit Majumdar, a University of Alberta internist who took up the nay side of the testing debate at a meeting of the canadian diabetes association and the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism in Toronto yesterday.

What do you think? Is daily testing necessary, or just an emotional crutch?

(Photo Source: BBC)