Comparing and Contrasting Continuous Glucose Monitors and Insulin Pumps

“Five years ago, a newly diagnosed patient would walk in, and we'd start talking about continuous glucose monitors and 90% of people didn't know what we were talking about,” David Maahs, M.D., M.A., Ph.D., from Stanford University, said in an interview. “You can put these little devices the size of a quarter on, and it'll read your glucose values every five to 15 minutes.”

This technology is especially useful for parents of school-age children with type 1 diabetes. When their child’s insulin gets too low, an alarm goes off and a notification will be sent to their phone.

Data is then sent to the insulin pump, which delivers the correct amount of insulin to the patient.

However, the insulin pump must be placed far away enough from the glucose monitor so that there is no interference. This means that patients must wear two devices with two insertion points. Maahs said that there is ongoing research to develop a two-in-one device that both monitors blood sugar and delivers insulin.

Earlier this year, Maahs and his colleagues reported findings from a pragmatic, real-world study of a comprehensive approach of managing type1 diabetes in Nature Medicine. They enrolled 133 young (median age 11) people in the Teamwork, Targets, Technology and Tight Control — 4T, for short — study. At 12 months after enrollment, the participants had an average HbA1c of 6.58% and average glucose monitoring indicator of 7.11%. Close to two-thirds (64%) meet the target HbA1c target of 7%. The study participants had an average “time in range” of 68%, which means their blood sugar levels were in the desired range 68% of the time.

Maahs is currently a pediatric endocrinology professor at Stanford University and the Associate Chair for Academic Affairs in Pediatrics at Stanford University and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.