Do you currently use a Bayer Glucometer or Ascensia brand glucose meter? Are you looking for a way to download your glucose readings from the meter to diabetes management software on your computer? Bayer may have a solution for you: their Ascensia WinGlucofacts software.

Ascensia WinGlucofacts is a free software program that allows you to track your glucose readings and view those readings in several different charts and tables, including Log Book, Summary, Averages, Glucose Trend, Modal Day/Week, Bar Chart, and Pie Chart. However, the most unusual feature is the Compare Window, which allows you to compare any two of the charts or tables. You can compare weekends with weekdays and show the differences in a bar chart, pie chart, or any other chart or table. A neat feature of the software is its ability to save the charts and tables last displayed and to restore them at a later time.

Another strong feature is the software’s ability to merge two separate databases into one. This means that if you have two copies of the software, one to use at work and one at home, you can merge the data from both locations into one centralized repository.

The software is very customizable and lets you select which glucose meter you wish to download, the date-time format, time ranges, and so on. Ascensia WinGlucofacts also offers a Tip of the Day “wizard” that offers one or more helpful tips on how to use the software upon start-up. Another feature allows you to send data to your healthcare team via fax or e-mail.

Ascensia WinGlucofacts Professional offers additional features for healthcare professionals. It contains a data “wizard” that goes beyond downloading data—it analyzes data to find patterns in a patient’s glucose readings. For example, the data wizard can help you determine whether a patient’s diabetes control is better during the week than it is on weekends. The professional version has additional features for tracking laboratory tests and for looking at data across a doctor’s or CDE’s roster of patients. These features are useful for gathering data to use in gaining American Diabetes Association recognition for physicians or diabetes educators.

Ascensia WinGlucofacts runs on Windows 95, 98, NT4.0, 2000, ME or XP with 21 MB hard disk space, a CD-ROM and a serial port. A data cable for downloading the glucose meter is also needed and can be obtained from Ascensia for $29.95.

The standard version of Ascensia WinGlucofacts can be downloaded for free from the Ascensia Web site at www. winglucofacts.com. The professional version is available from www.winglucofactspro. com.

For additional information, call Bayer Customer Service at (800) 348-8100.

WinGlucofacts is compatible with the following Bayer Ascensia glucose meters:

• Bayer Ascensia Dex
• Bayer Dexter-Z or Esprit
• Bayer Ascensia Elite XL
• Bayer Glucometer M or M+
• Bayer Ascensia Breeze or Confirm
• Bayer Ascensia Contour

Questions and Answers:

Will Ascensia WinGlucofacts run on a laptop computer with a USB port?

Ascensia WinGlucofacts requires a serial port, but you can purchase a USB-to-serial adapter that will allow it to work with a USB port.

Is it possible for a patient to use the professional version of Ascensia WinGlucofacts?

Yes, a patient could use the professional version. In fact, the Data Wizard would be a big reason for using the professional version instead of the patient version. The other additional features would not be more useful for healthcare providers.

Just what is the Data Wizard, and how does it work?

The Data Wizard does a statistical analysis of glucose readings, insulin dosages and lifestyle events, and it automatically looks for patterns, or trends, in this data. It makes finding changes in the patterns fairly easy without spending a lot of time “manually” analyzing the data. It also helps correlate changes in insulin dose to changes in glucose readings, etc.