Transforming the management of Diabetes through Digital Health

by Ana Díaz-Roncero and Patricia Domínguez, April 17, 2024

According to the 2021 Diabetes Atlas of the International Diabetes Federation, 537 million adults between the ages of 20-79 around the world suffer from diabetes. This makes diabetes a high prevalence chronic disease that, with the continuous medical care required, presents a challenge to healthcare systems around the world. Because of this, Digital Health is becoming an ever more valuable partner in the management of this disease, enabling the optimization of healthcare resources.

This management requires an integrated approach that addresses the needs of these patients, such as periodic medical follow-up, glucose monitoring, adherence to treatment, or the management of diet and exercise. Specifically along these lines, Digital Health is playing a key role and, as indicated in the Medtech Europe report, is enabling the:

• Optimization of medical visits and healthcare resources

• Improvement of the patients’ quality of life

• Empowerment of the patient.

These digital platforms facilitate the daily activities of the diabetic patient and help him or her to have better control over the disease, by displaying, in a simple way, the information coming from devices like glucose monitoring systems. This real-time information allows the patients to administer their insulin effectively, encouraging immediate adjustments. In addition, this can be complemented with other kinds of data, collected actively or passively by the patient, like weight, physical activity, or events. These data help the patients to understand their general condition and overall progress.

In addition, Digital Health offers a wide range of educational resources and support for people with diabetes, providing information, advice, and emotional support that, in addition to empowering the patients, help them to improve in various areas, positively impacting their health and quality of life.

This integrated approach using digital tools has already demonstrated its efficacy in improving health outcomes, with the improvement in patient glycemic control and quality of life, thus reducing the daily burdens associated with the disease. When the patients know that their disease is under control, their anxiety level decreases and some measurements like quality of sleep are improved.

This monitoring in real time also allows the healthcare professionals to be up to date on their patients’ progress and make adjustments to their treatment as needed, concentrating their in-person visits on the most important aspects. This leads to an improvement in the quality of care and efficient management of healthcare resources, potentially enabling, according to the Medtech report, 80% of routine consultations to be conducted through tools such as telemedicine.

In conclusion, digital tools are transforming the management of chronic diseases like diabetes in which daily monitoring is key. These technological innovations are enabling us to move towards a future in which the handling of diabetes is more effective, efficient, and centered on the patient.

#Diabetes #DigitalHealth #mHealth