How User Experience Enhances Continuous Glucose Monitoring for Diabetes Management
Two abstracts presented at the American Diabetes Association 84th Scientific Sessions explored how positive user experiences with a CGM can lead to better patient outcomes.
With the ever-growing number of diabetes management technologies on the market, selecting the right 1 can be overwhelming, especially for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Unlike medications with standardized effects and dosing schedules, user experience with CGMs can vary greatly. Factors like individual preferences, lifestyle, disease severity, and device features all play a role.
Dexcom CGM / Dulin - stock.adobe.com
Despite this variability, CGMs have the potential to increase adherence, improve self-management, and reduce the burden of care associated with diabetes. Two abstracts presented at the American Diabetes Association 84th Scientific Sessions, held June 21 to 24 in Orlando, Florida, explored how positive user experiences with a CGM can lead to better patient outcomes.
Use of a CGM can improve psychosocial health and self-care behaviors in patients with prediabetes, according to the first abstract presented at the meeting.1 Study findings frame the Dexcom CGM as an effective behavior modification tool.
Glucose data spanning 47 adults with prediabetes or at high risk for diabetes were collected in an observational 12-week US study. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) assessing psychosocial health were collected at baseline and study-end, as well. From the larger study population, 17 participants completed a qualitative follow-up on device usage. Their responses were then analyzed using thematic and content analyses.
Overall, time in range (TIR) remained very high throughout the study (100% [96, 100]). Additionally, participants reported improvements in their emotional well-being and self-efficacy in managing their health. They also reported reduced perceived severity of their prediabetes while using Dexcom CGM.
“I felt like I could make informed choices about my diet based on my body’s reaction rather than guessing based on broad guidelines from a dietitian who might be working with a one-size-fits-most approach,” said 1 participant on the personalized approach afforded by the CGM.
“Using the CGM really opened my eyes to what my eating habits were doing to my glucose levels, and I realized that I could control my health with better eating habits and exercise,” said another participant on their improved perception of control while using the device.
Initial results suggest that CGM may be a valuable addition to prediabetes management strategies. Beyond just tracking glucose, CGM empowers people with prediabetes to understand their unique responses and make informed lifestyle choices.
READ MORE: Slideshow: Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Type 2 Diabetes
The Dexcom G7’s streamlined insertion process and shorter warm-up time offer quicker access to CGM data, allowing for more timely diabetes management decisions, and the 12-hour grace period allows for flexible scheduling of sensor replacements while maintaining data continuity, according to a second abstract.2
Although similar in function, the G6 CGM system and the G7 system, both from Dexcom, offer different warmup and lifespan durations; investigators sought to assess data gaps and alert availability between the 2 devices.
Investigators analyzed real-world data from 59,285 users in the US and Europe who uploaded 60 or more days’ worth of data from G6, switched to G7, and then uploaded 60 or more days’ worth of data from G7. From this data, comparisons between the last 60 days of G6 use and the first 60 days of G7 use were made.
The switch to G7 decreased the median between-session data gap by 1.8 hours. However, there was a large increase in the number of gaps lasting over 1 hour from 0.1% to 54.3%.
Further, median time between sensor replacements was 14 minutes shorter with G7 than with G6.
While the Dexcom G7 appears to offer some advantages over the G6 in terms of access to data and scheduling flexibility, further research is warranted to understand user experiences and optimize sensor performance.
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READ MORE: Continuous Glucose Monitoring Resource Center
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References
1. Crawford MA, Hicks C, Singh H. “I realized that I could control my health with better eating habits and exercise”—Significant improvements in psychosocial health and lifestyle in people with prediabetes using Dexcom rtCGM. Presented at: American Diabetes Association 84th Scientific Sessions; June 21-24, 2024; Orlando, FL. Abstract 1852-LB.
2. Jepson LH, Andrade SB, Welsh J. Improvements in data availability with the G7 CGM system. Presented at: American Diabetes Association 84th Scientific Sessions; June 21-24, 2024; Orlando, FL. Abstract 1001-P.
