By Erin Digitale: Around-the-clock monitors benefit type-1 diabetes patients
The meter can be programmed to warn patients if their levels of glucose, the body’s predominant sugar, rise too high or drop too low. It could help them fend off treacherous drops in blood glucose levels and decrease their risk of developing long-term complications, such as blindness and kidney failure.
The study, which tracked 322 type-1 diabetes patients at 10 medical centers, including 40 patients at the medical school and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, is the first randomized clinical trial to show that this monitoring enables people with diabetes to take better care of themselves.”This technology allows patients to see exactly what’s going on with their diabetes all the time,” said Bruce Buckingham, MD, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the medical school and leader of the Stanford/Packard portion of the study.
Traditional, finger-prick blood glucose meters give a few snapshots per day of a patient’s diabetes management. In contrast, the new meters produce a 24-hour glucose “movie,” recording glucose trends around meals, during exercise and throughout sleep.
The study, published online Sept. 8 by the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked child, adolescent and adult type-1 diabetes patients for six months. The subjects started with average sugar levels above or at the American Diabetes Association target for diabetes management. At checkups, doctors monitored the patients’ blood levels of glycated hemoglobin, an indicator of long-term glucose control. (Low levels have been associated with a reduced risk of long-term complications.) The study’s control subjects used only finger-prick blood glucose meters, in which a small drop of blood from the finger is applied to the meter to track glucose levels
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