Diabetes is already a well-documented huge global health issue, and its prevalence is unfortunately growing exponentially. Type 2 Diabetes accounts for the majority of this increase, making up 90% of people living with Diabetes compared to 8% living with Type 1 Diabetes. The complications arising due to undiagnosed or poorly managed Diabetes are serious: life-limiting and potentially fatal for sufferers and crippling for health systems’ budgets. Heart attacks, strokes, dementia, kidney failure, loss of sight, limb amputation, nerve damage and gum disease are just some of the conditions linked to uncontrolled raised blood-sugar levels.
Whilst there is currently no cure for Type 1 Diabetes, an autoimmune condition that stops the body producing insulin to break down sugar, it can be well managed with good clinical care, advice, medicines, and medical technology.
By comparison, Type 2 Diabetes is caused by a lack of sensitivity to insulin, owing primarily to genetic predisposition and lifestyle factors. Whilst it too can’t be cured, with lifestyle modifications, medication and blood sugar monitoring it can be well managed to avoid the above health complications.
It is possible to put Type 2 Diabetes into remission and international healthcare guidance for managing Diabetes is increasingly aiming for this as a treatment target. In fact, there’s been a recent NHS push to better identify people suffering from ‘preDiabetes’ (or Impaired Glucose Tolerance) too. By targeting health-care efforts at patients with preDiabetes, Diabetes and associated complications can be better managed and prevented altogether.
What is preDiabetes?
When you go for a health-check one of the things doctors will measure is your ‘HbA1C’, which is your average blood sugar level over the last 2-3 months. PreDiabetics have a raised average blood sugar level that’s above normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with Diabetes. It is, and should be, seen as a serious warning. People with preDiabetes are at a high risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. PreDiabetes itself does not cause any symptoms, however, people only take notice once they start experiencing symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes and therein lies the problem. It can only be managed if it is first diagnosed with a blood test and so patients with Diabetes will often not present to their doctor at an early or preDiabetic stage.
What are the risk factors for preDiabetes?
There are several known risk factors for preDiabetes and type 2 Diabetes. These include:
- Being overweight
- Being over 45 years of age
- Reduced physical activity
- Having high blood pressure
- Having a family member with type 2 Diabetes
- Previous gestational Diabetes
- Being of Black African, Afro Caribbean & South Asian descent
Although Diabetes is more commonplace in the above groups, preDiabetes and Diabetes can present in seemingly the healthiest of people and many sufferers don’t obviously exhibit any of these risk factors. In fact, it’s a frequent misconception that only people who are overweight and who make unhealthy lifestyle choices will go on to develop type 2 Diabetes.
PreDiabetes in the UK
According to Diabetes UK, there are 2.4 million people in the UK currently at risk of type 2 Diabetes. The NHS spends around 10% of its entire budget on Diabetes each year. In the last few years several specialist evidence-based Diabetes prevention programmes have been rolled out across the UK. Primary care teams have been tasked with improving identification of those at risk of developing type 2 Diabetes and referring them on to these programmes, following the mantra: ‘prevention is better than cure’. In the case of Diabetes, this couldn’t be truer. By helping people take control of their health before or in the early stages of a type 2 Diabetes diagnosis, their quality of life is likely to be significantly improved and consequently healthcare spending on Diabetes and its complications is likely to significantly fall.
What role can a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) play in preDiabetes?
A CGM is a powerful tool that allows people to continually monitor their blood sugar fluctuations, in turn enabling better lifestyle choices that can lead to improved blood sugar levels.
Knowledge is power, and knowing what your blood sugar levels are doing in response to every-day lifestyle and food choices is vitally important to both type 1 and 2 Diabetics. At Afon Technology, we believe those with preDiabetes can harness the power of continuous glucose monitoring to help prevent the onset of type 2 Diabetes. Better still, by improving our understanding of what the effects our lifestyle choices have on our blood sugar levels, those without preDiabetes may even be able to prevent its onset. This would work by users learning to check their CGM before and after meals, exercise, and other everyday activities, to see how everything they do affects their blood sugar. This knowledge will inform their future choices to be best for their how their blood sugar responds.
Currently, the only CGMs available are at best minimally invasive, using a small needle to introduce a sensor under the skin. Sensors need to be changed frequently and can cause discomfort; all factors that can deter people from their use.
The ideal solution is a non-invasive CGM that allows users to track their blood sugar fluctuations, in real time and without piercing the skin. That’s why Afon Technology are on a mission to bring Glucowear™ to the market.
The Afon Technology Glucowear™ solution
Glucowear™ is the first truly non-invasive continuous glucose monitor: a challenge that even global tech giants haven’t managed to solve.
Glucowear™ is a wearable wrist device that uses safe, ultra-low power RF/microwaves to measure changes in blood sugar levels. This gives real time feedback via a smartphone companion app which enables users to make smarter, healthier choices.
Using Glucowear™ as a non-invasive way to track their health, Afon Technology aim to empower the wider population to pay attention to their blood sugar levels and live healthier because of it.
