Effect of switch from flash glucose monitoring to flash glucose monitoring with real-time alarms on hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the utility of the FreeStyle Libre 2 device for reducing time below range level 1 and level 2 compared with the Freestyle Libre device (without alarms) in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus. We conducted longitudinal observational follow-up study of a cohort of 100 people with type 1 diabetes mellitus who had switched from FreeStyle Libre to FreeStyle Libre 2 as part of routine clinical practice. Three months after switching to FreeStyle Libre 2, compared with results with FreeStyle Libre, there were a significant improvements in time below range level 1 (p = 0.02) and level 2 (p <0.001), time in range (p <0.001), time above range level 1 (p = 0.002), glucose management indicator (p= 0.04) and mean glucose (p= 0.04) during follow-up. Furthermore there was a significant direct association between age and change in TIR with a coefficient of 0.23, and a significant inverse association between age and change in TAR-1 with a coefficient of 0.11. Switching to a flash glucose monitoring system with alarms improves time below range, time in range and coefficient of variation in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus.