The health authorities would save money by doubling the number of free glucose testing strips given to type 1 diabetics as better monitoring would prevent complications, a study has concluded.
Financial savings from a reduction of longer-term diabetes-related complications would be incalculable
As things stand, type 1 diabetes patients get 50 free testing strips every 28 days but they are, ideally, required to test themselves at least four times a day, which would require 112 strips over that period, Nancy Formosa noted in a paper published in the Malta Medical Journal.
She pointed out that buying the extra strips put a financial burden on some families.
“Such a change in free glucose test-strip entitlement would increase the cost for the Department of Health from 57c per patient per day to €1.28 per patient per day but the financial savings from a reduction of longer-term diabetes-related complications… in terms of provisions of healthcare and social services would be incalculable,” Dr Formosa concluded in her paper.
Malta Diabetes Association president Anna Zammit McKeon said that her organisation had long been calling for more free strips.
Self-monitoring of blood glucose helps to adjust therapy and assess the responses to therapy.
Patients can themselves immediately assess the impact of an action on their blood glucose level and take prompt action to counteract it.
“It is useless to monitor diabetes unless the monitoring is regular… you need to be able to spot any fluctuations,” Ms Zammit McKeon said, adding that she knew of people who found buying the strips too costly.
They cost about €30 per pack of 50 strips.
She said that, a few years ago, the Government had extended the 50 free monthly strips – previously available to patients under 36 – to all type 1 diabetics.
Now, the association was lobbying for free strips for type 2 diabetics. It also wanted to be involved when the Government selected which glucose meter (that processes the strip’s readings) to give to patients because not all of them were good.
Dr Formosa’s study looked into the blood glucose monitoring in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes and was based mainly on literature reviews. The majority of the papers on the subject that she researched showed “a significant link” between self-monitoring of blood glucose and effectiveness in controlling diabetes.
Type 1 diabetic children need to perform at least four blood glucose tests a day, Dr Formosa pointed out. More frequent testing was required in situations where their blood glucose could suddenly become destabilised.
She said that the overwhelming majority of children tested four times a day.
“However, a significant number complain that, although they accept regular blood glucose monitoring as necessary, it imposes a considerable financial burden on their families,” she added.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (type 1), a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces (type 2).
Diabetes affects about 246 million people worldwide. It is estimated that 15.6 children out of every 100,000 in Malta suffer from type 1 diabetes and type 2 is on the increase.
The cause of type 1 is unknown, so preventing it is difficult. But type 2 diabetes, which makes up 90 per cent of cases, is linked to obesity and unhealthy lifestyles.
Over a long period of time, hyperglycaemia – high blood sugar levels – can cause damage to several organs including the heart, blood vessels and the eyes.
More information at www.diabetesmalta.org.