Endocrine Abstracts

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is an important part of diabetes management. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) provides real-time measurement of users’ glucose levels. The advantage of CGM is the availability of constant information about glucose levels which helps to predict hyper and hypoglycaemia and to adjust the insulin doses accordingly. NICE guidelines recommend that children and young people with type 1 diabetes and persistent problems with hypoglycaemia unawareness or repeated hyper or hypoglycaemia should be offered CGM. In UK there is limited funding for CGM due to lack of evidence for benefits of use over SMBG in improving control. In our service within a large DGH, we have a cohort of 12 children who were funded for CGM use over a minimum of 12 months.

Aim: To assess the effects of CGM on metabolic control, fear and frequency of hypoglycaemic episodes and assess the overall compliance over a period of 12 months.

Methods: Data from 12 patients commenced on CGMS was collected. We compared their HbA1c, frequency of hypoglycaemic episodes over 12 months, as well as asking them to complete fear of hypoglycaemia questionnaires for before and after CGM use.

Results: 12 patients (eight males), with median age 14.5 years (5–18 years) used CGM over a year. There was significant improvement in HbA1c within 1 month of usage and that improvement was sustained over 9 months. Number of hypoglycaemic episodes increased significantly at 6 months of usage but at 12 months there was no significant difference. There were some issues with non-compliance in 58% of patients.

Conclusion: In clinical practice, the use of CGM showed improvement in metabolic control within a short period of time but improvement was not sustained over 12 months. Fear of hypoglycaemic episodes were significantly improved following CGM usage.