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Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Improve Blood Sugar Control NEW YORK -- September 8, 2008 -- Patients with type 1 diabetes who used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices to help manage their disease experienced significant improvements in blood sugar control, according to initial results of a study presented today during the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting and in the October 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The CGM study is a randomised, controlled trial involving 322 patients aged 8 to 72 years. Patients were assigned to either CGM or a control group using standard blood sugar monitoring and were followed for 26 weeks to assess effects on blood sugar control, principally, assessed haemoglobin (Hb) A1C levels. At enrolment into the study, patients had Hb A1C levels of 7% to 10%. Patients were divided into 3 age groups (8-14 y; 15-24 y; >=25 y) and analysed separately. Improvements in blood sugar control were greatest for CGM patients aged 25 years or older. Hb A1C levels of patients in this age group decreased during the study by an average of 0.53% compared with control patients (P < .001). Improvements in secondary measurements were also significantly greater in CGM patients, including the percentage of patients able to achieve an Hb A1C level below 7%, or a 10% relative or 0.5% absolute drop in Hb A1C. The improvement in Hb A1C occurred without an increase in hypoglycaemia. In children aged 8 to 14 years, the average decrease in Hb A1C was not significantly different between the CGM group and the control group. However, those in the CGM group were more likely to lower their Hb A1C by at least 10% and achieve Hb A1C levels below 7% compared with the control group. Patients aged 15 to 24 years who were in the CGM group did not experience significant improvements in glucose control compared with the control group. CGM use varied with age, averaging at least 6 days a week over the course of the trial in 83% of patients aged 25 years and older, but dropping off to 30% in patients aged 15 to 24 years, and 50% in patients aged 8 to 14 years olds (for whom CGM use typically involved their parents' assistance). Although the study was not specifically designed to assess the effect of frequency of CGM use on Hb A1C, an analysis presented at EASD suggested that patients within all 3 age groups who used the device for at least 6 days a week had substantially lower Hb A1C levels after 6 months compared with patients who used CGM less than 6 days a week. "These results are very important, because they show that continuous glucose monitors are more than simply devices of convenience for people with diabetes -- they are tools that can substantially improve blood sugar control when used regularly," said Aaron Kowalski, MD, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, New York, New York. "Based on the findings of previous studies, better control of glucose levels over the long term can be expected to translate to a lower risk of complications for people with type 1 diabetes." SOURCE: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version