Novel methods of continuous glucose monitoring and telehealth in the improvement of diabetes care: a narrative review

Jerzy Hohendorff; Leszek Czupryniak; Grzegorz Dzida; Piotr Fichna; Przemyslawa Jarosz-Chobot; Tomasz Klupa; Malgorzata Mysliwiec; Agnieszka Szadkowska; Dorota A Zozulinska-Ziolkiewicz; Maciej T Malecki

doi:10.5114/aoms/139025

Novel methods of continuous glucose monitoring and telehealth in the improvement of diabetes care: a narrative review

Arch Med Sci. 2021 Jul 3;19(3):757-764. doi: 10.5114/aoms/139025. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Metabolic Diseases, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
² Department of Diabetology and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
³ Department of Internal Diseases, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
⁴ Department of Pediatric Diabetes and Obesity, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
⁵ Department of Children's Diabetology, School of Medicine, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Diabetology and Endocrinology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, Diabetology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
⁸ Department of Internal Medicine and Diabetology, Poznan University of Medical Science, Poznan, Poland.

Abstract

Standard markers of glycaemic control, such as glycated haemoglobin (HbA_1c) and self-measurement of blood glucose (SMBG), have proven insufficient. HbA_1c is an averaged measurement that does not give information about glucose variability. SMBG provides limited, intermittent blood glucose (BG) values over the day and is associated with poor compliance because of the invasiveness of the method and social discomfort. In contrast to glucometers, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices do not require finger-stick blood samples, but instead measure BG via percutaneous or subcutaneous sensors. The immediate benefits of CGM include prevention of hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia, and automated analysis of long-term glycaemic data enables reliable treatment adjustments. This review describes the principles of CGM and how CGM data have changed diabetes treatment standards by introducing new glycaemic control parameters. It also compares different CGM devices and examines how the convenience of sharing CGM data in telehealth applies to the current coronavirus-19 pandemic.

Keywords: continuous glucose monitoring; diabetes mellitus; telehealth.