Continuous Glucose Monitoring Takes Another Step Forward
Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) is one of the most exciting advances in diabetes research because it carries the potential to be an artificial pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes. The latest study on CGM involved 322 patients who used a FDA-approved Medtronic CGM device for a period of six months.
The results showed that the CGM device significantly reduced the average A1c levels of those with type 1 diabetes when used at least six days a week. These improvements occurred without an increase in low blood sugar reactions.
The study did not show the same benefits for patients with type 1 diabetes younger than age 25. This does not necessarily mean that a CGM device would not accomplish the same results in younger patient, but rather that more research is needed to determine how young adults and children can best use the CGM.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and is available online.
You can also do a side-by-side comparison of the features of each of the FDA-approved CGM devices. Though these devices can be purchased, the cost is upwards of $1,000 and insurance is still reluctant to cover this new technology. Hopefully that will change in the near future.
Interesting. But I don’t understand why CGM would help so much. My understanding is that you can’t give a bolus based on a CGM reading anyway because the accuracy wasn’t reliable enough. You still have to do a finger stick. So why so much better? Just because it alerts you that your BG is high?
I have an insulin pump but I declined to get the CGM because it didn’t seem all that useful and was another thing to maintain.
I’d be interested in learning more about CGMs, though.
But wouldn’t anything that can give you insight into blood sugar fluctuations be an elemental piece of equipment for managing diabetes? It’s a shame that the units cost so much and that they are not covered by insurance.