Quote:
Originally Posted by davef  Lloyd,
Could you explain the importance of standard deviation, if possible please explain it for people like me who are "hard of understanding"
Thanks |
Sure!
Standard Deviation (often abbreviated SD) is a measure of how widely scattered or closely packed your readings are compared with your average.
Widely varying glucose, imposes it's own set of risks of complications, apart from what your average is.
Here is an example to illustrate:
You do 4 tests in a day, 2 of them are 250, 2 of them are 50.
The average is 150. Not so bad, but not great. But.... the 250 readings are too high, the 50 readings are too low.
So, looking at the average only, you might think you are doing ok, when in fact you are not.
A SD should never be more than half your average, but I don't consider that very good. When I started on my pump, my SD was about 25, now it is about half that. The lower the better!
Some meters will display SD. Some pumps will. Some software that you upload the data from meters and pumps will figure the SD for you. Some spreadsheets have that as a built in function.
I think it is more difficult for a T1 to get a good SD than a T2, because sometimes a T1 will do everything right, and still go wildly high or low. I am fortunate, in that if I do the right thing, 99% of the time I will get a good result. Predictability and repeatability.
