Diabetes Device Downloading: Benefits and Barriers Among Youth With Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Background: The majority of youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) fail to meet glycemic targets despite increasing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) use. We therefore aimed to determine the proportion of caregivers who review recent glycemic trends (“retrospective review”) and make ensuant insulin adjustments based on this data (“retroactive insulin adjustments”). We additionally considered that fear of hypoglycemia and frequency of severe hypoglycemia would be associated with performing retrospective review. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of caregivers of youth with T1D, collecting demographics, diabetes technology usage, patterns of glucose data review/insulin dose self-adjustment, and Hypoglycemia Fear Survey (HFS). Results: Nineteen percent of eligible caregivers (191/1003) responded. Performing retrospective review was associated with younger child age (12.2 versus 15.4, P =.0001) and CGM use (92% versus 73%, P =.004), but was not associated with a significant improvement in child’s HbA1c (7.89 versus 8.04, P =.65). Retrospective reviewers had significantly higher HFS-behavior scores (31.9 versus 27.7, P =.0002), which remained significantly higher when adjusted for child’s age and CGM use (P =.005). Linear regression identified a significant negative association between HbA1c (%) and number of retroactive insulin adjustments (0.24 percent lower mean HbA1c per additional adjustment made, P =.02). Conclusions: Retrospective glucose data review is associated with improved HbA1c when coupled with data-driven retroactive insulin adjustments. Barriers to data downloading existed even in this cohort of predominantly CGM-using T1D families.