A Comparative Study of Two Glycemic Control Methods (SMBG vs. CGM) in Children and Adolescents Aged from ۴ to ۱۸ Years with Type ۱ Diabetes

Background: Considering the prevalence of diabetes in children and also the effect of good control of blood sugar and hemoglobin A۱C (as a long indicator of glucose control) on reducing the complications of diabetes, this study was done to compare two glycemic control methods in children and adolescents with T۱DM. Method: The CGM device was connected to the patients once every three months for ۴ to ۷ days and the number of hypoglycemic events per month and their average HbA۱C and average daily dosage of insulin were collected before and after installing the CGM device. Statistical tests were performed in SPSS software. Result: The results showed that the use of CGM leads to more decrease in the number of hypoglycemic cases, in comparison to SMBG. The percentage change in the number of hypoglycemic cases was not statistically significant with any of the factors of the patient’s age, gender and duration of diabetes. In addition, the results showed that the use of CGM leads to a greater decrease in HbA۱C levels, when compared to the SMBG. Conclusion: The mentioned decrease, not related to age, sex, and duration of diabetes, might be due to the increase in patients’ insight into their disease and how to control their level of blood sugar; and on the other hand due to increase in the doctor's insight into the patient's abilities in self-monitoring blood sugar but CGM did not reduce the patients’ daily insulin dosage