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Benefits of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM)

CGM — the new standard


Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) has gained acceptance within the diabetes community as an effective tool for helping patients achieve their diabetes goals1:
  • Achieve A1c targets without adding hypoglycemia2-4
  • Reduce hypoglycemia2-4
  • Reduce glucose variability2-4

A recent study by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation showed that using a CGM, such as the SEVEN® PLUS, for at least 6 days a week can lead to significant decreases in A1c and can provide a greater ability to reach the ADA recommended goal of 7%.4 Evidence such as this is exactly why many of the nation’s largest insurance companies are now providing coverage for this revolutionary technology.




Click here to see how all CGMs are not created equal.

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Meeting the goals of self-management

The goal of diabetes self-management is to help patients optimally manage their diabetes based on:
  • Individual needs
  • Customized goals
  • Personal lifestyle considerations

Empower your patients

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Fingerstick monitoring alone does not provide enough information for patients to act preemptively to avoid hyper- and hypoglycemic events.1-8 A major benefit of CGM is that it can help patients identify fluctuations and trends that would otherwise go unnoticed with standard fingerstick testing.

The SEVEN PLUS measures glucose levels and sends a glucose value every 5 minutes from the Transmitter to the Receiver. This is equivalent to a patient taking 288 fingerstick readings daily. However, unlike fingersticks, patients see real-time trending of glucose levels and patterns. The SEVEN PLUS shows patients their current glucose value, as well as their glucose trend over the past several hours (1-, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-hour trends). It also tells them how quickly their glucose is changing. And when glucose levels go above or below the set target range, alerts notify patients so they are able to take corrective action before going too low or too high — helping them Stay Between The Lines® .



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A1c tests vs. true glucose variability

While A1c tests have been considered the gold standard for years, these tests do not necessarily correlate to good diabetes control. Recent studies evaluating patients considered to be "well-controlled" (who maintain an A1c level of approximately 7%) reveal that these patients had less control than expected. When using CGM, study results demonstrate that the patients were actually experiencing extensive fluctuations in glucose levels.6 CGM, especially in conjunction with A1c, helps to show a more complete picture of glucose control.

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Damage caused by glucose variability

There is a growing body of clinical evidence showing that glucose variability itself — independent of A1c — initiates a cascade of physiological damage.2,6,9-11 Over time, hyper- and hypoglycemic events significantly increase the risk of diabetic complications, such as retinopathy and general microvascular pathogenesis, at least partially due to increases in oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokines that are triggered by hyper- and hypoglycemic swings.2,6,9-11

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Unnoticed highs and lows revealed by CGM

As a clinician, you probably have patients that experience hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia so often that they no longer realize when they have symptoms. Large-scale studies have shown, over time, these glycemic excursions cause major complications to the vascular system and organs. A CGM device can call attention to dangerously low overnight glucose levels that often go undetected, reveal previously unnoticed hyperglycemia spike trends between meals, show early morning highs in glucose, clarify the way diet and exercise affect your patients' glucose levels and provide a long-term comprehensive assessment of the effects of adjustments in diabetes management.2,3,8

Click here to learn more about SEVEN PLUS performance and clinical validation.

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References:
  1. Standards of medical care in diabetes — 2009. American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care. 2009;32 Suppl 1:S13-61.
  2. Garg S, et al. Improvement in glycemic excursions with a transcutaneous, real-time continuous glucose sensor: a randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care. 2006;29(1):44-50.
  3. Garg SK, et al. Continuous home monitoring of glucose: improved glycemic control with real-life use of continuous glucose sensors in adult subjects with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2007;30(12):3023-3025.
  4. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Continuous Glucose Monitoring Study Group (2008) Continuous glucose monitoring and intensive treatment of type 1 diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2008;359(14):1464-1476.
  5. Waldron-Lynch F, et al. Continuous glucose monitoring: long live the revolution! Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab. 2009;5(2):82-83.
  6. Hirsch IB. Glycemic variability: it's not just about A1C anymore! Diabetes Technol Ther. 2005;7(5):780-783.
  7. Brauker JH, et al. The function of continuous glucose sensors: How and why seeing glucose as a function of time enables proactive management decisions to avoid highs and lows. Rev Endo. May 2007.
  8. Deiss D, et al. Improved glycemic control in poorly controlled patients with type 1 diabetes using real-time continuous glucose monitoring. Diabetes Care. 2006;29(12):2730-2732.
  9. Brownlee M, et al. Glycemic variability: a hemoglobin A1c-independent risk factor for diabetic complications. JAMA. 2006;295(14):1707-1708.
  10. Brownlee M. The pathobiology of diabetic complications: a unifying mechanism. Diabetes. 2005;54(6):1615-1625.
  11. Gerich JE, et al. The rationale for paired pre- and postprandial self-monitoring of blood glucose: the role of glycemic variability in micro- and macrovascular risk. Curr Med Res Opin. 2007;23(8):1791-1798.