Blogs
Simplifying CGM for Broader Adoption
Continuous glucose monitoring has existed for more than two decades. Yet for much of that time, it remained a technology that was available to relatively few with it being too expensive for most, too complex for some, and not well enough integrated into the clinical systems that primary care practitioners use. That is changing. And the change matters enormously for how diabetes is managed in South Africa.
The Hidden Cost of Inconsistent CGM Performance
The direct cost of a CGM sensor is visible. The cost of an inaccurate or inconsistent one is not but still just as real, and it accumulates in ways that are worth examining carefully, both for individual patients and for the healthcare system that carries the long-term burden of poorly controlled diabetes.
From Data to Decisions: Why Accuracy Drives Better Outcomes
A CGM sensor generates a reading approximately every five minutes. Over the course of a 10.5-day wear period, that amounts to more than 3,000 individual data points per sensor. The critical question is not how much data is produced, but whether that data is accurate enough to act on and what happens to patient outcomes when it is.
Consistency Is the Real Benchmark in CGM Performance
It is relatively easy for any device to perform well under ideal conditions. The harder and more clinically meaningful question is whether a CGM sensor performs well every day, in every patient, across the full wear period. Consistency, not peak performance, is the real benchmark.
What Does Accuracy Really Mean in CGM?
When a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) claims to be ‘accurate’, what does that actually mean? For patients making daily decisions about insulin dosing, food, and activity (and for clinicians interpreting those decisions) accuracy is not a marketing term. It is a clinical threshold with a precise definition, and not all devices meet it equally.