Why Download Data: The Benefits and Challenges of More Diabetes Data

Abstract

IN BRIEF Diabetes care lends itself to interactions centered around data—counting carbohydrate for meals, calculating correction doses, viewing logbooks or device data, and discussing A1C levels—and digital technology has enhanced diabetes care through the improved collection and analysis of data from multiple sources. With these technological advancements have come great improvements in quality of life for people with type 1 diabetes. These technologies allow for more informed and immediate decision-making through better access to blood glucose data and sometimes allow the devices themselves to make decisions, removing the need for patients or clinicians to be involved in decision-making altogether. At the same time, these new technologies bring new challenges for both patients and health care providers, who must now analyze and make sense of more diabetes data.