At this year’s American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions (ADA), they honed in on the potential of digital health, specifically diabetes. Novo Nordisk presented their findings pertaining to individual’s input on Novo Nordisk’s Cornerstones4Care (C4C) powered by the Glooko app. The C4C app is designed to help people with diabetes track and manage their health on-the-go via a digital device.

The app enables people with diabetes to track and measure their blood glucose, activity and meals. The C4C app uses Glooko’s technology to sync a user’s blood glucose and activity data from current available diabetes and exercise devices. Additionally, it includes resources to provide personalized support programs for specific individuals with diabetes, so that people can better manage their diabetes using their mobile device.

Over 14 days, 112 people with type 1 diabetes recorded their blood sugar levels on the mobile app in real-time.

“The objective was to explore the link between variations in blood sugar levels and time spent in hypoglycaemia (TIHypo), and the association between average blood sugar level and TIHypo, based on real-world real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data,” said  Amy West, Senior Director, Patient Marketing and Digital Health Innovation at Novo Nordisk. “In addition, we wished to explore if there was a “cut-off” for clinically important variability as related to TIHypo, which was previously suggested by the International Consensus on Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring.

This data offered Novo Nordisk a variety of information pertaining to the association of blood sugar levels and the amount of time spent with low levels. The results suggested that greater variations in blood sugar increased the time spent with low blood sugar. 

This data inquiry was not just relevant to researchers, but pertinent to patients with diabetes who could now use a compilation of real time information to make data-advised decisions.

“This was a compilation of real time world data which could be used as a tool to help patients better visualize what’s happening in their bodies when data, such as blood sugar, medication, food choices and exercise, are trackable,” said West. “By having access to more data points, patients will ultimately have the tools to make informed decisions regarding their health.”

By using digital tools to provide a visualization of blood sugar level variations, Novo Nordisk hopes to gain more insights on treatment understanding, engagement and self-management.  With patients more aware of their health through the use of an app, Novo Nordisk hopes to give users more control of self-management.

“People living with chronic diseases require better, more personalized support tools to help address the often-overwhelming task of managing a disease every day,” West said.

Novo Nordisk hopes their work in the digital health field will help create digital interventions for individuals living with diabetes.

“Ultimately our digital health solution will help health care practitioners gain round-the-clock insight into their patients, and empower people to better manage their diabetes, with the aim of ultimately leading to better diabetes management outcomes,” said Rick Altinger, CEO of Glooko.