Do we need continuous glucose monitoring in type 2 diabetes?

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is recommended as a core component of diabetic patient's management but it can provide only intermittent snapshots of blood glucose levels missing often hyperglycaemic or hypoglycaemic excursions. Similarly HbA1c alone is unable to provide detailed diagnostic information and it has several limitations. In the modern diabetes monitoring, Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) could be considered as a third pillar, since it provides information on day-to-day change of blood glucose levels and helps achieving treatment targets without increasing the risk of hypoglycaemia. Therefore the use of CGM may reduce glucose variability, improving glycaemic control and decreasing long-term diabetes complications. In fact the availability of continuous glucose data for patients with low and high glucose alerts may impact quality of life with short- and long-term effectiveness. Moreover CGM can be used as a powerful motivational device to change type 2 diabetic patients' lifestyle and to improve their quality of life. Although the studies on the economic feasibility to use CGM as an educational tool must be carried out, we suggest that it can be used as a powerful motivational device to change patients' lifestyle and to improve glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes (T2D). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.