On the top of my wish list for new technology is the ability to download my pump and cgm data … it has been a “Must Be” on my list. However, when my husband asked me the last time I downloaded my pump data, I was stumped … it had certainly been over 3 years, since the software only ran under Windows 2000! And I had upgraded my computer to Windows 8 and had difficulty getting Dexcom Suite up and running.
What I thought was essential was something I wasn’t even doing. Hmmmmm. So then this article is published on dLife.com … and here it is for your review.
Please let me know … do you download your pump data? Do you download your CGM data? Are you waiting until there is an easy way to integrate all the data and display usable charts?
Diabetes News from dLife.com
Most People with Type 1 Diabetes Do Not Use Diabetes Devices to Get Long-Term Data
June 23, 2014 (EurekAlert) – Almost 70 percent of adults with Type 1 diabetes never use their blood glucose self-monitoring devices or insulin pumps to download historical data about their blood sugar levels and insulin doses—information that likely would help them manage their disease better. These new survey results, which were presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago, also show that only 12 percent of patients regularly review their past glucose and insulin pump data at home.
“This research highlights the fact that these devices used to manage Type 1 diabetes are not being used to their full potential,” said Jenise Wong, MD, PhD, the study’s principal investigator and an assistant adjunct professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. “These devices can be useful not only for real-time disease self-management but also in helping to review past data to guide future treatment decision making.”
Glucose monitoring devices include continuous glucose monitors, which automatically measure blood sugar levels every few minutes via a sensor inserted under the skin, and blood glucose meters, used with a fingerstick drop of blood. People with diabetes also use insulin pumps to deliver basal insulin and insulin boluses for high blood sugar levels or when they eat carbohydrates. These devices typically collect and store information such as the response of glucose levels to physical activity and food, as well as the individual’s carbohydrate intake and insulin doses. Most insulin-dependent patients use the information displayed on the screen to make immediate decisions about insulin dosing, according to Wong.
She said many health care providers encourage their diabetic patients to download the information from their devices to their computers and look at the data collected for the past few days, weeks or months. “However, we know very little about how often people with Type 1 diabetes look at their past data on their own between visits with their providers,” Wong said.
Through an online survey, Wong and her colleagues asked 155 adults with Type 1 diabetes how often they download the past data from their glucose monitoring devices. Seventy-seven survey participants were men, and 78 were women, and their average age was 34.5. Nearly all subjects used a glucose meter, and many used more than one device. A total of 106 individuals used an insulin pump, which either communicated with a glucose meter or allowed the user to manually enter glucose values from a glucose meter. Forty-three used continuous glucose monitors.
The researchers found that only 31 percent of survey respondents (48 of 154) reported ever downloading past data from their devices at home. Even fewer did so four or more times a year and actually read the information before giving it to their health care provider: 12 percent, or 18 of 154 participants. Users of continuous glucose monitors regularly downloaded and reviewed their data more often than users of the other devices: 28 percent versus 5 to 7 percent.
Older adults also were more likely to download their past data, Wong said. For every decade increase in age, there was 1.5 times the chance of the patient downloading and reviewing data from any device.
“Future studies are needed to understand why people with Type 1 diabetes rarely look at past data from their blood glucose monitoring devices,” she said.
Few diabetes devices work with smart phones. Wong speculated that patients might find it too technically complicated to download and review the data, or they might not find the data helpful or may not understand how to use the past data to help them manage their diabetes in the future.
Yeah, I haven’t downloaded any data from my PDM (Omnipod controller) in years because it downloads enormous files that I can neither print nor make much sense out of. I know my endocrinologist has an amazing way to download the data that makes it super helpful, but he pays to “subscribe” to this downloading option and the last thing I need is yet one more T1D related expense!
I have the new mini med pump that downloads easily to my computer, I try to download every time I change my sensor but now it’s about once a month. I got a quick lesson once on how to read all the reports and what to look for but honestly I kind of lost interest because I don’t know what I am looking at or what to look for, etc. It would be great if my dr reviewed it with me or if mini med had time for more teaching or if I had more time to research and read about it.
I know … it doesn’t help if you don’t know how to make changes as a result of seeing your data. My endo also does not download … I don’t think he has time and would rather defer that to his diabetes educator … but then that’s another appointment! Grrrrrr!