the three methods of assesing glycemic control , hba1c , smbg and cgms provide distinct information , yet complementary at the same time . hba1c does not equally reflect the glycemic values over the three months that forego its determination .
hba1c assesses the average glycemic exposure in time without being able to differentiate between preprandial and postprandial glycemia , possible hypo and hyper glycemia .
this method is able to identify both hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes allowing immediate therapeutic decisions and therefore a glycemic balance closer to normal .
introduction of cgms in the assessment of the glycemic status represents a great technological advance .
this glucose monitoring method clears glycemic balance abnormalities in an otherwise impossible to obtain manner , evaluating both therapeutic efficiency and glycemic control . even if cgm systems are far from being implemented at a large scale in current practice , they are about to change the diabetes management by providing an optimal glycemic control .
 type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease and maintaining a tight glycemic control is essential to prevent both microvascular and macrovascular complications , as demonstrated in previous studies . 
 it is essential to monitor the glucose levels in order to achieve the targets . 
 the blood glucose monitoring can be done by different methods : glycated haemoglobin a1c , self - monitoring of blood glucose ( before and after meals ) with a glucometer and continuous glucose monitoring with a system that measures interstitial glucose concentrations . even though glycated haemoglobin a1c is considered the  gold standard  of diabetes care 
 , it does not provide complete information about the magnitude of the glycemic disequilibrium . 
 therefore the self - monitoring and continuous monitoring of blood glucose are considered an important adjunct for achieving and maintaining optimal glycemic control . 
 the three methods of assessing glycemic control : hba1c , smbg and cgms provide distinct but at the same time complementary information , 
Conclusions