The accuracy of a new real-time continuous glucose monitoring algorithm: an analysis

In this issue of Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Keenan and colleagues used archival data from the STAR 1 clinical trial (Medtronic Diabetes) to support the claim that the new Veo calibration algorithm improves the accuracy of continuous glucose monitoring, particularly in the critical hypoglycemic range. Extensive data analyses are presented to support this claim; the results are convincing, and the estimated improvement in hypoglycemic detection from 55% for the standard calibration to 82% for the Veo is particularly impressive. We can therefore conclude that the Veo algorithm has the potential to improve the accuracy of hypoglycemia alarms and ultimately contribute to closed-loop control. However, the presented results should be interpreted cautiously because they are based on retrospective analysis and are heavily dependent on the distribution of blood glucose levels observed in a particular data set.