UCI-Led Study Finds Wearable Glucose Sensors Improve Lifestyle Choices In People With Prediabetes

A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has found people with prediabetes improved their lifestyle choices to prevent type 2 diabetes after wearing a flash glucose monitoring system, a sensor device worn on the back of the arm that provides real-time glucose readings.

Approximately 96 million Americans have prediabetes, more than double the diabetes prevalence in the U.S.  Among those with prediabetes, 25% will progress to type 2 diabetes within three years, and 70% will develop overt diabetes within their lifetime. 

“For people with prediabetes, lifestyle modification is the cornerstone to prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes,” says Joyce Lee, PharmD, corresponding author and health sciences clinical professor at the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Prediabetes can be reversed while type 2 diabetes cannot.”

People with prediabetes are presented with minimal to no health warning signs.  Without any signs and symptoms of the harmful changes occurring in their body, people with prediabetes often are not motivated to make lifestyle changes to offset prediabetes

“Finding a cure for type 2 diabetes is still far away; however, finding a cure for prediabetes is very much possible. It takes personal motivations and resilience, and flash glucose monitoring systems could be the turning point,” says Lee.

Evidence has shown that flash glucose monitoring systems can enhance treatment satisfaction and the quality of life of patients with diabetes. The sensor generates real-time glucose readings when the user scans the sensor by passing a reader or a smartphone close to the sensor. 

The study, published in Diabetes Care, found that people with prediabetes reported positive behavior changes, such as going to the gym or stopping snacking, and improved understanding of their glucose responses after wearing a flash glucose monitoring system for 28 days.

“As opposed to finger pricking, flash glucose monitoring systems provide safe and hassle-free glucose monitoring through its ability to generate real-time biofeedback to help patients understand their physiological glucose responses,” says Lee.

While flash glucose monitoring systems are commercially available in the United States, they are only accessible through prescriptions to people with diabetes.

“People with prediabetes do not currently have access to flash glucose monitoring system sensors, nor are they covered by insurance for the indication of prediabetes,” says Jenny Nguyen, co-author and second-year student pharmacist at the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Our pilot study has provided evidence, for the first time in literature, that flash glucose monitoring system sensor wear is both acceptable and feasible in people with prediabetes.”

Extending the use of flash glucose monitoring systems to people with prediabetes may prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.  “Early introduction and utilization of flash glucose monitoring systems allow people with prediabetes to become more aware of their own bodies and physiologic responses,

empowering people to commit to important lifestyle changes while maximizing preventative care,” says Lee.

The research team also included Jeffrey Arroyo, MD (AltaMed Health Services, Los Angeles), Tracey Tran, PharmD (UCI Family Health Center Pharmacy, Santa Ana), Dylan Hanami, MD (Department of Family Medicine, UCI School of Medicine), and José Mayorga, MD (UCI Health Family Health Center, Santa Ana and Anaheim). Lee was the recipient of UCI’s 2021 Institute for Clinical and Translational Science Pilot Studies Award, and this work was supported through this grant award.