Continuous glucose monitoring improves the quality of life of diabetics

Popularly known as "diabetes", diabetes is one of the most rapidly growing diseases in the 21st century. Diabetes Switzerland estimates that almost 500,000 people in Switzerland have diabetes, of which more than 40,000 are type 1 diabetics.

Type 1 diabetes has nothing to do with an (unhealthy) lifestyle and cannot be cured: In type 1 diabetes, the body cannot produce the hormone insulin, so glucose or sugar levels in the blood rise. Without insulin intake, hyperglycemia occurs, which can lead to health complications and death.

80 000 finger pricks
People with type 1 diabetes need to prick their finger an average of seven times a day (over 80,000 times in their lifetime) to measure their glucose levels. Each test involves drawing blood from the fingertips with a lancet and evaluating it with a blood glucose meter. And this is in addition to multiple daily insulin injections.

But type 1 diabetes is not just about an insulin injection here and a finger prick there. It's a condition that continually affects all areas of life on a daily basis: diabetes affects everything, and sufferers have to constantly think about anything that can affect blood glucose levels: Carbohydrates, coffee, alcohol, medications - even the time of day.

Paradigm shift
A continuous glucose monitoring system in real time means a paradigm shift for diabetes patients, away from spot blood glucose monitoring on the fingertip as the basis for treatment decisions. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) is a diabetes management tool that measures blood glucose levels 24 hours a day using a small sensor just under the skin. The sensor is connected to a transmitter that automatically transmits glucose readings wirelessly via Bluetooth to a compatible smartphone or smartwatch.

This continuously outputs the measured values and the glucose level trend. The diabetic does not have to scan a sensor to get his values. He sees continuously and in real time on his smartphone whether the sugar is falling or rising. The system thus helps him to adjust accordingly. The patient can rely on the system and sees without his active intervention if the value rises too high or falls too low.

Alarms provide early warning
In addition, a further safety level is built into the devices: Using an alarm function with individually adjustable limit values, they automatically warn of glucose values that are too high or too low even before they are reached, so that diabetics can take countermeasures in good time through food intake or insulin administration and avoid dangerous hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia. Innovative CGM systems with their automatic, individually adjustable warnings for low or high glucose values and the trend arrows or trend alarms for rapidly rising or falling glucose values thus provide people with insulin-dependent diabetes with the safety they need in everyday life and especially at night. This actively helps diabetics to worry less and improves their quality of life.

Values are shared
A pioneering CGM system allows user-specific customizable alarms and notifications to be shared with so-called followers. For example, parents can see the values of their child, relatives can follow the values of elderly people, or professionals can follow the values of people with impaired hypoglycemia perception. In this way, followers are also made aware of dangerous tissue glucose values and can support the diabetic in avoiding leaving the target range. The followers know that they can rely on the system and are thus more relaxed and reassured - even if they are not in the immediate vicinity of the patient.

Better glucose control
The so-called DIaMonD study (Multiple Daily Injections and Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Diabetes)1) investigated the effects of CGM on HbA1c levels2) and hypoglycemia in diabetic patients with functional insulin therapy (FIT). A total of 158 adult subjects with type 1 diabetes participated in the study. The results show that after 24 weeks of regular use of a CGM system, patients also spent more time within the normal range (70-180 mg/dL or 3.9-10.0 mmol/L) and less in hypo- or hyperglycemia (low or high blood glucose), along with better glucose control on average. This was found in a comparison with patients in the control group (n=53) who used a blood glucose meter for glucose control. The study also examined the duration of hypoglycemic episodes. The results show reductions in the hypoglycemic range in the CGM group compared to the blood glucose self-control group. Thus, the DIaMonD study supports that diabetes patients with functional insulin therapy can benefit from CGM in real time.

Data transparency and analysis options
Another advantage of the CGM: Healthcare professionals gain relevant insights into logged data and values. Users thus gain more transparency and analysis options. A cloud-based solution simplifies data reporting and management of continuous glucose monitoring in real time. This gives patients and physicians quick insight into, for example, HbA1c estimates, the patient's average glucose value, time intervals in and outside the target range, and standard deviations, enabling them to make informed treatment decisions. The values can be retrieved in real time, and reports and graphs of the collected data can be generated automatically. Such a solution simplifies the analysis of CGM data and enables the automated generation of summaries. This enables healthcare professionals to record and adjust the health status of their patients in greater detail and more quickly. This significantly increases the quality of treatment, because treatment staff and clinics have much faster, better quality results for treatment decisions.