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USER-BASED HEALTH MONITORING
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED
APPLICATIONS
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This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 09/237,194, filed on Jan. 26, 1999, currently pending, which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/481,925, filed on Jun. 7, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,855, which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/233,397, filed on Apr. 26, 10 1994, now abandoned, which is a Continuation In-Part of application Ser. No. 07/977,323, filed on Nov. 11, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,263. This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,563, U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,855, U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,476, Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/041,746 and 15 Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/041,751, U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,493, Provisional Application No. 60/041,751 and 60/041,746, application Ser. No. 10/233,296, application Ser. No. 09/665,242, application Ser. No. 10/319,427, application Ser. No. 09/713,922, application Ser. No. 10/605,223, appli- 20 cation Ser. No. 10/605,226, application Ser. No 10/605,228; application Ser. No. 10/605,229, application Ser. No. 10/605, 547, and application Ser. No. 09/237,194.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 25
Controlling or curing conditions of ill health generally involves both establishing a therapeutic program and monitoring the progress of the afflicted person. Based on that progress, decisions can be made as to altering therapy to 30 achieve a cure or maintain the affliction or condition at a controlled level. Successfully treating certain health conditions calls for rather frequent monitoring and a relatively high degree of patient participation. For example, in order to establish and maintain a regimen for successful diabetes care, a 35 diabetic should monitor his or her blood glucose level and record that information along with the date and time at which the monitoring took place. Since diet, exercise, and medication all affect blood glucose levels, a diabetic often must record data relating to those items of information along with 40 blood glucose level so that the diabetic may more closely monitor his or her condition and, in addition, can provide information of value to the healthcare provider in determining both progress of the patient and detecting any need to change the patient's therapy program. 45
Advances in the field of electronics over the past several years have brought about significant changes in medical diagnostic andmonitoring equipment, including arrangements for self-care monitoring of various chronic conditions. With respect to the control and monitoring of diabetes, relatively 50 inexpensive and relatively easy-to-use blood glucose monitoring systems have become available that provide reliable information that allows a diabetic and his or her healthcare professional to establish, monitor and adjust a treatment plan (diet, exercise, and medication). More specifically, micropro- 55 cessor-based blood glucose monitoring systems are being marketed which sense the glucose level of a blood sample that is applied to a reagent-impregnated region of a test strip that is inserted in the glucose monitor. When the monitoring sequence is complete, the blood glucose level is displayed by, 60 for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit.
Typically, currently available self-care blood glucose monitoring units include a calendar/clock circuit and a memory circuit that allows a number of blood glucose test results to be stored along with the date and time at which the 65 monitoring occurred. The stored test results (blood glucose level and associated time and date) can be sequentially
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recalled for review by the blood glucose monitor user or a health professional by sequentially actuating a push button or other control provided on the monitor. In some commercially available devices, the average of the blood glucose results that are stored in the monitor (or the average of the results for a predetermined period of time, e.g., fourteen days) also is displayed during the recall sequence. Further, some self-care blood glucose monitors allow the user to tag the test result with an "event code" that can be used to organize the test results into categories. For example, a user might use a specific event code to identify test results obtained at particular times of the day, a different event code to identify a blood glucose reading obtained after a period of exercise, two additional event codes to identify blood glucose readings taken during hypoglycemia symptoms and hyperglycemia symptoms, etc. When event codes are provided and used, the event code typically is displayed with each recalled blood glucose test result.
Microprocessor-based blood glucose monitoring systems have advantages other than the capability of obtaining reliable blood glucose test results and storing a number of the results for later recall and review. By using low power microprocessor and memory circuits and powering the units with small, high capacity batteries (e.g., a single alkaline battery), extremely compact and light designs have been achieved that allow taking the blood glucose monitoring system to work, school, or anywhere else the user might go with people encountered by the user not becoming aware of the monitoring system. In addition, most microprocessor-based self-care blood glucose monitoring systems have a memory capacity that allows the system to be programmed by the manufacturer so that the monitor displays a sequence of instructions during any necessary calibration or system tests and during the blood glucose test sequence itself. In addition, the system monitors various system conditions during a blood glucose test (e.g., whether a test strip is properly inserted in the monitor and whether a sufficient amount of blood has been applied to the reagent impregnated portion of the strip) and if an error is detected generates an appropriate display (e.g., "retest"). A data port may be provided that allows test results stored in the memory of the microprocessor-based blood glucose monitoring system to be transferred to a data port (e.g., RS-232 connection) of a personal computer or other such device for subsequent analysis.
Microprocessor-based blood glucose monitoring systems are a significant advance over previously available self-care systems such as those requiring a diabetic to apply a blood sample to reagent activated portions of a test strip; wipe the blood sample from the test strip after a predetermined period of time; and, after a second predetermined period of time, determine blood glucose level by comparing the color of the reagent activated regions of the test strip with a color chart supplied by the test strip manufacturer. Despite what has been achieved, numerous drawbacks and disadvantages still exist. For example, establishing and maintaining diabetic healthcare often requires the diabetic to record additional data pertaining to medication, food intake, and exercise. However, the event codes of currently available microprocessor blood glucose monitoring systems provide only limited capability for tagging and tracking blood glucose test results according to food intake and other relevant factors. For example, the event codes of currently available monitoring systems only allow the user to classify stored blood glucose readings in a manner that indicates blood glucose tests taken immediately after a heavy, light or normal meal. This method of recording information not only requires subjective judgment by the system user, but will not suffice in a situation in which successfully
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