A new study designed to evaluate the effect of continuous glucose monitoring on hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes has found that continuous glucose monitoring both reduces the amount of time spent by type 1 diabetes patients in hypoglycemia and improves HbA1c levels. The results appear in the April addition of Diabetes Care.
The randomized, controlled, multicenter study, included 120 children and adults on intensive therapy for type 1 diabetes and with a HbA1c of over 7.5%. The patients were randomly assigned to a control group performing conventional home monitoring with a blood glucose meter and wearing a masked continuous glucose monitor every second week for five days, or to a group with real-time continuous glucose monitoring. The study’s primary outcome was the time spent in hypoglycemia over a period of 26 weeks.
The researchers found that the time per day spent in hypoglycemia was significantly shorter in the continuous monitoring group than in the control group, the HbA1c at 26 weeks was lower in the continuous monitoring group than in the control group and the time spent in 70 to 180 mg/dL (normoglycemia) was significantly longer in the continuous glucose monitoring group compared with the control group.
