Continuous Glucose Monitoring by Pharmacists Triples Patients Achieving A1c Goals

Within 6 months of implementing continuous glucose monitoring as part of a pharmacist-managed service for patients with type 2 diabetes, the percentage of patients achieving their A1c goals nearly tripled, according to study findings published online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

“Pharmacists employing professional continuous glucose monitoring as part of a diabetes management service were able to achieve targets for significantly more patients with type 2 diabetes on a wide range of treatment regimens at 6 months compared with baseline,” wrote Health Ulrich, PharmD, BCPS, CDCES, a clinical pharmacy specialist at Lebanon Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and coauthor Monica Bowen, PharmD, BCPS. “Widespread use of professional continuous glucose monitoring in pharmacist-managed diabetes services may provide valuable care and improve outcomes more broadly.”

The retrospective study looked at patients meeting their individualized A1c goal before and after professional continuous glucose monitoring began. At baseline, patients in the study had diabetes an average 15.6 years and an average A1c of 9.1%. More than three-quarters were not meeting their A1c goal.

Three months after the start of continuous glucose monitoring by pharmacists, average A1c decreased from 9.11% ± 1.4 to 8.64% ± 1.3, according to the study. At 6 months, A1c averaged 8.19% ± 0.8.

The percentage of patients within their A1c goal range increased from 23.3% at baseline to 53.6% at 3 months and 69.6% at 6 months, researchers reported.

“Larger randomized trials are warranted,” they advised, “to examine ideal patient selection and optimal frequency of use.”

Reference:
Ulrich H, Bowen M. The clinical utility of professional continuous glucose monitoring by pharmacists for patients with type 2 diabetes [published online ahead of print, 2021 May 29]. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2021;S1544-3191(21)00195-3. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2021.05.013