The future of glucose monitoring: why blood measures are important

In recent years, diabetes management has undergone a remarkable transformation with the increase in continuous glucose monitors (CGM). These devices have patients an easier way to maintain glycemic levels compared to the traditional approach to finger sting. However, a more in -depth understanding of this category of devices and what they measure is essential for optimal management of diabetes.

The traditional finger sting devices, called blood sugar monitors or BGMS, have been marketed for decades and measures glucose of blood capillaries directly in its finger. Although they are very precise, they provide only one reading at a given time, so it is not possible to know if the glucose increases or falls and how fast. Alternatively, commercial CGM devices measure glucose in interstitial fluid – the liquid that surrounds the cells. These systems provide continuous readings as well as information on trends, it is therefore possible to know the direction and speed of glucose levels.

When evaluating these two approaches, patients must carefully consider everyone’s limits. The next evolution in glucose monitoring will have to approach the fundamental limits of the BGM and the CGM to continue to transform diabetes care.

The location is important: the main challenges of blood sugar and interstitial liquid monitoring

A key difference between monitoring of blood sugar and interstitial liquid monitoring lies in their measurement location and how this location informs reading glucose. As mentioned, monitoring of blood sugar provides a direct measure of blood capillaries glucose and reflects the most common glucose concentration. Surveillance of interstitial fluid measures glucose levels in the liquid in the fatty cells surrounding under the skin and provides an indication of the concentration of glucose in the subcutaneous tissue.

The most significant impact that the measurement in the blood in relation to the presence of interstitial liquid is perhaps the time lag. Interstitial liquid readings can be lagging behind up to 15 minutes behind the real readings of blood sugar during periods of rapid change. This delay in the readings occurs due to the glucose first entering the blood circulation, being finally broadcast capillaries in the interstitial fluid.

Although CGM technologies have revolutionized the convenience of glucose monitoring by providing large amounts of continuous data, a challenge that remains is to capture precise and unusual readings during periods of rapid change of glucose. Such periods occur during consumption, exercise and periods of stress and illness. For patients who make daily decisions on the dosage of insulin, these increases and fast falls are not only an academic question; Rather, they have a direct impact on the results for health and quality of life.

Understanding this discrepancy is essential, especially for patients using automated insulin administration systems which can undergo delayed adjustments during these dynamic periods. This temporal shift creates a significant difference for people with variable glucose models. By avoiding such delays when these fluctuations occur, patients can make better informed decisions around their management of diabetes and make sure they get a more precise dose of insulin.

A emerging technology that takes up the challenge of the time lag is continuous monitoring of blood sugar (CBGM). As the BGM approach of finger sting, this technology also measures blood sugar but it on a continuous basis similar to CGM. It therefore captures the advantages of the two approaches: continuous measurement of glucose data without any gap.

Clinical impact on diabetes management

CGM technology allows patients to receive real -time alerts when glucose levels approach the dangerous thresholds. For example, research has shown that patients passing from fingers to CGM have seen a significant improvement in their blood sugar, average HBA1C levels increased from 11.2% to 7.0%. Another study published by Diabetes found that CGMs have reduced the hospitalization costs linked to diabetes of $ 329.53 per person per month. Alerts, glucose trends and the increase in glucose values combined overall improvements in patient care. New technologies, like CBGM, will probably accelerate these advantages even more by providing real -time glucose data which is not affected by the gap and could therefore reduce both the medical and psychological burden on diabetes management.

• Hypoglycemia detection – Frequent and reliable measures and alerts of glucose can help prevent hypoglycemic events – periods of times when blood sugar is dangerously low. These hypoglycemic events can lead to severe immediate complications such as fatigue, dizziness, loss of consciousness and, in the worst cases, coma. CBGM technology continuously provides real -time blood sugar values allowing patients to be more sensitive to these low glucose events, facilitating previous interventions (such as drinking orange juice) to avoid serious complications.
• Hyperglycemia detection – Frequent and reliable measures and alerts of glucose can also help prevent hyperglycemic events – periods of times when blood sugar is too high. The cumulative quantity and the duration of these hyperglycemic events can lead to serious long -term complications such as ketoacidosis, kidney problems, nephropathy, retinopathy and even amputation and blindness. Again, CBGM technology continuously provides real -time blood sugar values allowing patients to be more sensitive to these high glucose events, facilitating previous interventions (such as insulin dosage) to minimize the time spent in hyperglycemic state.

Today, people living with diabetes have several ways to monitor glucose levels, whether by finger stings or CGMs. The two ways to measure glucose levels have advantages and limits.

Technological progress, such as continuous monitoring of blood sugar, are trying to combine real -time precision from direct blood measure with the increase in data, trends and continuous surveillance alerts. Such innovations are not simply progressive – they represent a fundamental change in the way we address diabetes management, going from periodic snapshots (BGM) beyond continuous monitoring (CGM) and in addition to continuous data in real time (CBGM). By attacking the persistent patients of patients as the replacement of devices, laptops on the body and the mental load of diabetes management, new generation CBGMs could considerably transform the patient’s experience.

Beyond improving clinical results, new generation technologies could reduce part of the management of glucose management, thus improving life for diabetic patients.

Photo: Murat Gocmen, Getty Images

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