Tool to Evaluate Continuous Glucose Monitoring

A new analytic tool called the Continuous Glucose Error-Grid Analysis (CG-EGA), developed to evaluate the clinical accuracy of continuous glucose monitoring in diabetics, has been found to provide highly accurate test results. The finding was reported in the August 2004 issue of Diabetes Care.

CG-EGA takes into account not only static point accuracy of glucose levels but also directional accuracy, which tells patients whether their glucose levels are rising, falling, or remaining steady. The authors illustrated the applicability of CG-EGA using data collected during a clinical trial of the Freestyle Navigator system of Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL, USA), an investigational device under review.

"Continuous glucose sensor technology has the potential to revolutionize diabetes management by providing patients with ongoing, online feedback about current blood glucose levels and rate/direction of change, as well as alarms to alert for possible dangerous trends, such as rapid blood glucose descents that may lead to hypoglycemia,” explained William L. Clarke, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia Health System (Charlottesville, USA) and one of the members of the group who developed the CG-EGA. The same group developed the Clarke Error-Grid Analysis, the current standard for evaluating clinical accuracy of fingerstick blood glucose monitoring.

Continuous glucose monitoring is designed to provide not just a snapshot of glucose levels at one point in time but also directional data based on analysis taking place every 60 seconds. This allows patients to monitor how their glucose levels are changing and thereby avoid hypoglycemic events. Similar to a photograph, discreet or fingerstick testing represents one moment in time, whereas continuous glucose monitoring is an advancement akin to video technology.




Related Links:
Abbott Labs
Univ. of Virginia