Response to Comment on: Polonsky et al. Structured Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose Significantly Reduces A1C Levels in Poorly Controlled, Noninsulin-Treated Type 2 Diabetes: Results From the Structured Testing Program Study. Diabetes Care 2011;34:262–267
- William H. Polonsky, PHD1,
- Lawrence Fisher, PHD2,
- Charles H. Schikman, MD3,
- Deborah A. Hinnen, ARNP4,
- Christopher G. Parkin, MS5,
- Zhihong Jelsovsky, MS6,
- Bettina Petersen, PHD7,
- Matthias Schweitzer, MD7 and
- Robin S. Wagner, DVM, PHD7
- From the 1University of California, San Diego, and Behavioral Diabetes Institute, San Diego, California; the
- 2University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; the
- 3North Shore University Health System, Skokie, Illinois; the
- 4Mid-America Diabetes Associates, Wichita, Kansas; the
- 5Health Management Resources, Carmel, Indiana;
- 6Biostat International, Tampa, Florida; and
- 7Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Indiana
- Corresponding author: Christopher G. Parkin, cgparkin.com{at}gmail.com.
We thank Stephens et al. (1) for their comments in response to the Structured Testing Program (STeP) study. It is evident that we share an interest in ensuring that health care resources are used effectively, and we therefore welcome the opportunity to address the issues you have raised.
As noted in the letter, a number of studies in noninsulin-treated diabetes have shown data similar to those of Stephens et al.—suggesting that self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), as it is typically done, offers little or no glycemic benefit (2,3). We do …
