Who is using continuous glucose monitoring for type 2 diabetes management? A scoping review protocol

Equitable access to healthcare technology is a major public health issue. For adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D), continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology can improve diabetes self-management and clinical outcomes. Even though CGM is now recommended by professional guidelines for all patients with diabetes on insulin therapy, evidence suggests that CGM is underutilised and inequitably prescribed across health systems. As CGM is an emergent technology, it is vital to understand what approaches have been studied to overcome inequities in CGM access for adults with T2D, what aspects of equitable access have yet to be addressed and what are facilitators and barriers to CGM access at the individual, facility and health system levels.

We will use the Joanna Briggs Institute's revised scoping review framework to conduct our analysis. The protocol is registered with Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/z2exn). We will search for peer-reviewed literature containing empirical evidence for the facilitators and barriers to equitable access to CGM technology for patients with T2D. Findings will be organised according to research objectives and the Framework for Digital Health Equity, and summarised using narrative synthesis of descriptive statistics for quantitative findings, and themes for qualitative findings. This review will be conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews.

The findings from this review will provide valuable information and support for future research into the equitable implementation and use of CGM for patients with T2D. We will disseminate findings at conferences and publish in a peer-reviewed journal.

https://osf.io/z2exn.