WEDNESDAY, June 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) improves glycemic control in adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes and is beneficial for hypoglycemia in older adults with type 1 diabetes, according to two studies published in the June 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Lori M. Laffel, M.D., M.P.H., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues randomly assigned 153 individuals aged 14 to 24 years with type 1 diabetes and screening hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of 7.5 to 10.9 percent to CGM or usual care using a blood glucose meter for glucose monitoring (BGM group; 74 and 79 participants, respectively). The researchers found that in the CGM group, the mean HbA1c was 8.9 percent at baseline and 8.5 percent at 26 weeks compared with 8.9 percent at both baseline and 26 weeks in the BGM group (adjusted between-group difference, −0.37 percent).
Richard E. Pratley, M.D., from AdventHealth Translation Research Institute in Orlando, Florida, and colleagues randomly assigned 203 adults ages 60 years or older with type 1 diabetes to use CGM or standard BGM (103 and 100, respectively). The researchers found that in the CGM group, the median time with glucose levels less than 70 mg/dL was 5.1 and 2.7 percent at baseline and during follow-up, respectively, compared with 4.7 and 4.9 percent, respectively, in the standard BGM group (adjusted treatment difference, −1.9 percent).
These trials “demonstrate the benefit of CGM to populations at high risk of complications,” write the authors of an accompanying editorial. “Together, the data support CGM as an important component of care in individuals with type 1 diabetes.”
Several authors from both studies disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
Abstract/Full Text – Laffel (subscription or payment may be required)
Abstract/Full Text – Pratley (subscription or payment may be required)
Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)
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