Quantified Self and diabetes

Quantified Self et diabète

comme la technologie aide un diabétique de type

1 à chaque instant

QS Meetup Lausanne - 2014-09-10

Luca Bertagnolio

E: [email protected]

T: @lucaberta

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is an metabolic condition related to how

the body produces or uses insulin, an hormone

produced in the pancreas

There are two main types of diabetes:Type 1, or juvenile diabetes

Type 2, or adult-onset diabetes

What is the difference between

type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

In type 1 diabetes, the beta cells in the pancreas

are destroyed by an auto-immune reaction, so

insulin MUST be taken

In type 2 diabetes, insulin is still produced but the

body is less able to “use” it properly due to bad

health habits. Changing habits soon after

recognizing the symptoms allows for a complete

remission from type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetics are 90%, type 1 less than 10%

What is similar in the two

types of diabetes?

Keeping blood sugar levels stable is key

When BG is stable, there are less problems with

hypo- or hyper-glycemia

BG changes very rapidly, even just a few minutes

Control of how much and what is eaten is key

Control of how much insulin is injected is

fundamental

Diabetes and technology

Once upon a time only labs could do BG tests

Today we can use BG meters to take period

measurements BUT!BG meters can only be used infrequently

It's always painful to prick your finger for the blood!

BG meter and software

New technology: CGM

Continuous Glucose Monitor

Since about 10 years the CGM technology has

been promoted by many different vendors

It allows to keep measuring the BG level at any

given time, without any user interaction

It enables monitoring also during the sleep or

while driving

It can alerts when the BG falls or exceeds

specific limits

Dexcom G4 Platinum CGM

CGM and software 1/2

CGM and software 2/2

Issues I found with CGM

Analysis of data is still very manual

Patients are often more skilled than the doctors!

Need to establish clear workflows on what to do

with the data (same as with any QS data!)

Different devices all use the same unlicensed 2.4

GHz band for PAN → I am having interference

between my Dexcom and Garmin GPS and heart

rate monitor when I run :-(

Closed standards! :-( … BUT!

The future: CGM in the cloud