Diabetes Care in the Era of Wearable Glucose Sensors
1University of Verona, Verona, Italy
2Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
3Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
Diabetes Care in the Era of Wearable Glucose Sensors
Description
The rising tide of diabetes and related complications represent a major social and economic burden for the long-term sustainability of current healthcare systems. In order to prevent and relent the development and progression of diabetes complications, the attainment of a proper glycaemic control represents a major goal for any individual carrying a diabetes diagnosis. However, while it is widely accepted that average glucose levels per se are relevant to mitigate disease progression, it is becoming increasingly clear that glycaemic variability should be targeted amongst the top priorities, when it comes to balance the harms and benefits in the choice of diabetes medications.
The increasing availability of novel wearable instruments to monitor glucose levels in real-time without the need of finger-prick testing by the time-honored blood strips and lancets is opening a new era of diabetes care that grounds on a massive amount of data and on a more proactive engagement of the individual patient to mitigate the risk of hypoglycemia and, eventually, to ease the burden of the disease. The paradigm shift provided by glucose sensors, coupled with the larger-than-ever availability of novel drugs targeted to the pathophysiologic determinants of diabetes, is dramatically increasing the awareness of both physicians and patients on the effect of diabetes medications and provides unprecedented support for the effective implementation of nonpharmacological therapeutic lifestyle changes.
The combination of major technological advancements and the current nurturing of novel molecules represents a quantum leap in the history of diabetes care. This special issue welcomes original research articles, as well as review papers that will focus on the interest of the scientific community on the technological transition of diabetes care from a glucocentric approach based on occasional fingerstick to a more comprehensive approach that combines the individual cardiovascular risk assessment with the detailed picture of circadian fluctuations of glucose levels provided by wearable flash glucose monitoring (FGM) or continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems. The ultimate goal is to highlight the relevance of easy-to-use real-time data for the tailored management of glycaemic variability and the prevention and care of diabetes complications.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Effects of glucose-lowering drugs on glycaemic variability and time-in-range as novel measures of glycaemic efficacy other than A1c
- Application of wearable glucose sensors to insulin dose scaling and/or treatment deintensification for the prevention of hypoglycaemia in inpatient and outpatient settings
- Glucose sensors as a tool to improve adherence to pharmacological treatment and/or to diet/lifestyle/behavioural interventions
- Rates of onset and progression of micro- and macro-vascular complications in patients with versus without wearable glucose sensors
- Comparative effectiveness of wearable glucose sensors versus occasional fingerstick on the achievement of individual glycaemic goals