Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: Impact on Hypoglycemia Confidence and Fear
Methods. This was a prospective cohort study using questionnaires to assess the impact of CGM on hypoglycemia confidence (using the Hypoglycemia Confidence Scale [HCS] and hypoglycemia fear (using the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey II [HFS]) in 40 young adults with a preexisting diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.
Results. Scores on the HCS were greater at baseline for those with a longer duration of diabetes. Participants with higher general anxiety scores on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale had higher hypoglycemia fear at baseline (total score and worry component, but not behavior component of the HFS). Between baseline and follow-up, HCS scores increased on average by 0.2 (95% CI 0.1–0.4, P = 0.01) on a scale of 1–4. HFS scores decreased by 1.8 (95% CI −3.0 to −0.5, P = 0.006) on a scale of 0–24 for the worry component and by 2.5 (95% CI −4.4 to −0.6, P = 0.01) on a scale of 0–44 for total (worry + behavior components).
At follow up, 83% of participants planned to continue using CGM all or most of the time. There was a very high self-reported effect of CGM on life with diabetes (median 8.0 (interquartile range 6.5–10.0), where 10 indicated a very big difference).
Conclusion. Hypoglycemia confidence and fear improve with CGM use in young adults.