CGM bests traditional self-test method for controlling blood sugar in type 1 diabetes patients

China: A recent study has found continuous blood glucose monitoring to be associated with lower blood glucose levels compared to the traditional blood glucose self-test method. The findings, published in Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine imply that CGM is a better method for monitoring blood glucose in type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients.

The authors suggest that T1D patients, particularly those with poor diabetes control should use CGM than self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in blood glucose monitoring. This meta-analysis showed significant improvement in HbA1c percentage points with the strongest noticed for adjunctive CGM. Time-in-range increased for CGM especially with non-adjunctive CGM.

Further the use of CGM improved glycaemic outcomes; the greater improvement for TIR was noticed with the newer non-adjunctive CGM technology.

The meta-analysis was conducted by Yeling Wang, Department of Radiotherapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, Hainan, China, and colleagues with the objective to evaluate the effectiveness of different glucose monitoring methods on blood glucose control and the incidence of adverse events among type 1 diabetes patients.

For this purpose, the researchers searched the online databases to obtain relevant research literature. The selected studies were analyzed and evaluated. To statistically analyze all the data, Cochrane software RevMan5.4 was used. The meta-analysis included a total of 15 studies, including 10 randomized controlled trials and 5 crossover design trials consisting of 2071 patients. 

The researchers conclude by saying that, "continuous blood glucose monitoring is associated with lower blood glucose levels than the traditional blood glucose self-test method."

"This study promotes the management of patients with type 1 diabetes by evaluating the effectiveness of CGM and providing a reference for current and future related research."

Reference:

Wang Y, Zou C, Na H, Zeng W, Li X. Effect of Different Glucose Monitoring Methods on Bold Glucose Control: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Comput Math Methods Med. 2022 Jun 18;2022:2851572. doi: 10.1155/2022/2851572. PMID: 35761839; PMCID: PMC9233597.