Flash Glucose Monitoring in Croatia: The Optimal Number of Scans per Day to Achieve Good Glycemic Control in Type 1 Diabetes

Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Oct 25;59(11):1893. doi: 10.3390/medicina59111893.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal number of scans per day required for attaining good glycemic regulation. Materials and Methods: The association of scanning frequency and glucometrics was analyzed according to bins of scanning frequency and bins of time in range (TIR) in the Croatian population of type 1 diabetes (T1DM) patients. Results: Intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) Libre users in Croatia performed on average 13 ± 7.4 scans per day. According to bins of scanning frequency, bin 5 with 11.2 ± 02 daily scans was sufficient for achieving meaningful improvements in glycemic regulation, while decreasing severe hypoglycemia required an increasing number of scans up to bin 10 (31 ± 0.9), yet with no effect on TIR improvement. When data were analyzed according to bins of TIR, an average of 16.3 ± 10.5 scans daily was associated with a TIR of 94.09 ± 3.49% and a coefficient of variation (CV) of 22.97 ± 4.94%. Improvement was shown between each successive bin of TIR but, of notice, the number of scans performed per day was 16.3 ± 10.5 according to TIR-based analysis and 31.9 ± 13.5 in bin 10 according to scan frequency analysis. Conclusions: In conclusion, an optimal average number of scans per day is 16.3 in order to achieve glucose stability and to minimize the burden associated with over-scanning.

Keywords: FreeStyle Libre; blood glucose monitoring frequency; continuous glucose monitoring; glycemic measures.

MeSH terms

  • Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring
  • Blood Glucose*
  • Croatia
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1* / drug therapy
  • Glucose
  • Glycemic Control
  • Humans
  • Hypoglycemic Agents

Substances

  • Blood Glucose
  • Glucose
  • Hypoglycemic Agents

Grants and funding

This researchwas funded by the Croatian Endocrine Society.