Uh, not quite...
My husband called me this morning to alert me to an article regarding CGMS on msnbc.
I took a minute to see what the mainstream media outlet had to say about a topic we in the O.C. already know a lot about.
Right off the bat, the title, "Diabetics Swap Finger Sticks for New Sensors" is misleading.
Currently, CGMS have not replaced finger sticks. While they're a great tool for spotting trends and catching yourself before you get far out of range (either high or low), diabetics have to do a finger stick to confirm their blood glucose level before taking any action such as eating or administering insulin.
I did appreciate how the article explains that having a CGMS does not necessarily mean improved blood glucose control. Like Amy was saying yesterday, just having the numbers doesn't do any good if patients don't know what to do with that information.
Furthermore, "noncompliant" diabetics who won't test their blood a few times per day, are not going to wear a sensor all the time either! Not to mention the fact that the information obtain from a CGMS must be verified by a finger stick before meals or corrections, patients will still have to get over their fear or dislike of testing their blood sugar manually.
What a big, exciting headline over nothing new.
I took a minute to see what the mainstream media outlet had to say about a topic we in the O.C. already know a lot about.
Right off the bat, the title, "Diabetics Swap Finger Sticks for New Sensors" is misleading.
Currently, CGMS have not replaced finger sticks. While they're a great tool for spotting trends and catching yourself before you get far out of range (either high or low), diabetics have to do a finger stick to confirm their blood glucose level before taking any action such as eating or administering insulin.
I did appreciate how the article explains that having a CGMS does not necessarily mean improved blood glucose control. Like Amy was saying yesterday, just having the numbers doesn't do any good if patients don't know what to do with that information.
Furthermore, "noncompliant" diabetics who won't test their blood a few times per day, are not going to wear a sensor all the time either! Not to mention the fact that the information obtain from a CGMS must be verified by a finger stick before meals or corrections, patients will still have to get over their fear or dislike of testing their blood sugar manually.
What a big, exciting headline over nothing new.
posted by Kelsey @ 11:07 AM
2 Comments:
At 12:47 PM,
AmyT said…
Right! Not to mention the fact that these CGMS systems are still far from being covered by health insurance plans... so restricted to only a select few probably for many years before the "average joe" gets a chance...
Thanks for the shout-out!
At 3:25 AM,
IDFSteph said…
Kelsey,
Sorry to hear that the headline was nothing new or exciting. What a disappointment!
I recently came across your blog during work at the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Because you blog about living with diabetes, I thought you might take a minute to help us out with the World Diabetes Day campaign.
Here's how and why:
We are in the midst of our preparations for the first UN-observed World Diabetes Day (www.worlddiabetesday.org) on 14 November this year, and I wanted to ask you if you would like to help us to spread awareness of this worldwide event and the theme we have chosen for it this year - Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.
It is estimated that over 200 children develop type 1 diabetes every day and there's no question that the disease often hits disadvantaged communities the hardest, and that children in the developing world can die because their parents are unable to afford medication. In many countries diabetes is still considered an adult disease and as a result can be diagnosed late with severe consequences, including death. Even after diagnosis many children experience poor control and develop complications early.
This is why one of our key objectives for World Diabetes Day this year is to double the number of children covered by the Life for a Child Program - http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/go/wdd-2007/life-for-a-child. We also want to encourage initiatives that can help to reduce diabetic ketoacidosis (diabetic coma) and to promote the sort of healthy lifestyles which can prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes in children.
A version of the diabetes circle, the icon we used for our Unite for Diabetes campaign http://www.unitefordiabetes.org/ has now been adopted for World Diabetes Day and we have produced a number of web banners that you can view and download here http://banners.worlddiabetesday.org.
The way in which you can help us spread awareness of World Diabetes Day is to add one of the banners to your own blog, which we would really appreciate.
The UN's World Diabetes Day Resolution (61/225) was really just the first goal of an ambitious campaign that we have been leading. This is the first time a non-communicable disease has been recognised as a serious threat to global public health and we are hoping now to further raise awareness globally of the disease that is predicted to contribute to 6% of the world’s mortality in 2007.
If you would like to know more about the UN Resolution and our plans for World Diabetes Day this year, just drop me a line at stephanie.tanner@idf.org and I will get back to you with more information.
Kind regards,
Stephanie Tanner
IDF - Communications Assistant
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