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A Discrete Choice Experiment to Evaluate Blood Glucose Meter Preferences in People with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in the UK

Rodolphe Perard and Michelle E Orme

Background: Self-monitoring of blood glucose helps diabetic patients adjust their management strategies proactively, thus avoiding complications which place a burden on healthcare resources. It is hypothesised that some blood glucose meter attributes may influence patients’ choice.

Objective: The aim of this study is to elicit diabetic patients’ preferences for attributes associated with blood glucose meters.

Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based survey of UK patients with Type 1 and type 2 diabetes was conducted and preferences for attributes associated with blood glucose meters were estimated using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) framework.

Results: Type 1 respondents considered ‘time to test’ to be the most critical factor and were willing to trade a compact device (2.61 units), or convenience (1.37 units) for a device that could produce test results in under 30 seconds. Type 2 respondents preferred the low maintenance attribute and were most willing to trade a compact device (2.72 units) or convenience (1.37 units) for this attribute.

Conclusions: The DCE has elicited preference weightings for five key glucose meter attributes for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients. Devices that provide value added features such as offline storage of data and additional data analysis will be valued by both Type 1 and Type 2 patients whereas a compact device is less valued.