Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Among People Living With Type 1 Diabetes in South Africa

Diabetes mellitus (diabetes) is a chronic condition that represents a major public health and clinical concern. Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is a critical part of the care of individuals with diabetes. SMBG entails capillary fingerstick blood glucose testing multiple times per day. Many people with diabetes find this testing painful and cumbersome, often resulting in poor compliance to a glucose self-monitoring schedule. Furthermore, SMBG only provides limited visibility on daily and nightly glucose profiles, meaning that hypo- and hyperglycaemic episodes can be missed or detected with delay. The use of minimally invasive continuous glucose monitoring devices (CGMs) in diabetes management circumvents these challenges as CGMs measure glucose every few minutes over a period of 1-2 weeks through a sensor with a fine needle that is inserted once into a user's arm or abdomen. This enables periodic glucose measurement without repeat finger pricks and provides the user with a detailed glucose profile over the entire wear time of the sensor, thus enabling better adjustment of therapy or behaviour. In populations where CGMs are accessible to people with diabetes as standard of care and without additional cost, many people with type 1 diabetes have switched from SMBG via fingerstick to the use of CGMs permanently, using the devices continuously. This is rarely possibly for people with type 1 diabetes in the public sector in LMICs as CGMs are not provided as standard of care. Little data on effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and cost of the use of CGMs in LMIC populations is available to inform clinical models for the integration of CGMs into diabetes management. Furthermore, it has not been investigated if intermittent, as opposed to continuous use of CGMs provides clinical benefit. Intermittent use could be beneficial for people with diabetes who do not have the means to pay for continuous use of CGMs. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness, feasi