Published April 30, 2021
| 9:00 in the morning
In one of the earliest studies of its kind, medical and engineering researchers have shown that wearable devices that continuously monitor blood sugar levels provide new insights into the progression of type 2 diabetes in at-risk Hispanic / Latin American adults.
Findings from researchers at the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute (SDRI) and Rice University are available online in EClinicalMedicine, an open access journal published by The Lancet.
“The new look at glucose data sheds new light on disease progression, which could directly impact better management,” said Ashutosh Sabharwal, co-author of the Rice study, professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering and founder from Rice’s Scalable Health Labs.
“An important aspect of our analysis is that the results are clinically interpretable and show new avenues for improved type 2 diabetes care,” said Sabharwal.
The study builds on SDRI’s groundbreaking research into the treatment of type 2 diabetes in underserved Hispanic / Latin American communities.
SDRI’s Farming for Life initiative evaluates the physical and mental health benefits of providing medicinal recipes for fresh local vegetables to people with or at risk of type 2 diabetes, with an emphasis on the Hispanic / Latin American community.
SDRI recently added a digital health technology called continuous glucose monitoring to this research.
Continuous glucose meters track blood glucose levels around the clock and allow you to view and analyze blood glucose trends over time. The devices typically consist of two parts, a small electrode sensor that is attached to the skin with an adhesive patch, and a receiver that collects data from the sensor.
“We have found that the use of this technology is both feasible and acceptable for this population, predominantly Mexican-American adults,” said study co-author David Kerr, SDRI director of research and innovation.
“The results also provided new insights into measurable differences in glucose profiles for those at risk for and with non-insulin-treated type 2 diabetes,” said Kerr 2 Diabetes for this underserved population. “
“Working with SDRI is in line with our mission to use technology as an important building block in reducing health disparities,” said Sabharwal, who is also a co-researcher of Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Population (PATHS-UP). Engineering Research Center.
“We are excited about applying digital health technologies to underserved populations to eradicate health inequalities and improve health equity,” said Kerr.
“This opens up the potential for a greater number of collaborations to support SDRI’s evolving focus on precision nutrition and the expanded use of digital health technologies for both the prevention and treatment of all forms of diabetes,” he said.
Sabharwal is the Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering.
Study co-authors include Souptik Barua from Rice and Namino Glantz, Casey Conneely, Arianna Larez, and Wendy Bevier from SDRI.
The research was supported by the Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, Hearst Foundation, Mosher Foundation, Sun Life Financial, St. Francis Foundation, and the Blooming Prairie Foundation.
You can find a copy of the paper at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100853.
