Promoting better glucose management for type 2 diabetes

Among patients with type 2 diabetes who use insulin, many have difficulty reaching their targets for glycaemic control.

Barriers to success include the months that usually pass between opportunities for clinicians to titrate insulin doses and the time required to calculate these adjustments and convey them to patients.

In a study from three U.S. diabetes centres, researchers evaluated the effectiveness and safety of a novel system (d-Nav Insulin Guidance System) that measures, records, and analyses scheduled fingerstick blood glucose levels and uses an algorithm to recommend insulin dose adjustments directly to patients.

No difference was noted in frequency of hypoglycaemic events. On average, the system algorithm adjusted insulin doses 1.1 times weekly.

At study's end, total daily insulin doses for system users were more than 60% higher than those for control patients.