Type 2 diabetes management? There’s an app for that

August 4th, 2011 by Ryan Luce No Comments

written by Michael O’Leary

Soon people with type 2 diabetes may be entering their blood glucose readings into their cell phones, but it won’t be just another cell phone app. The new generation mobile health tools will record the data for your doctors and link to online software that will track your status and text you with messages to help manage your diabetes.

People using the system, developed by WellDoc, in a clinical trial achieved an average 1.9 percent decline in their A1C, which was significantly lower than the 0.7 percent decline in the usual care group. (Link to published site)

The Mobile Diabetes Intervention Study, led by Dr. Charlene Quinn, was conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The one-year study involved 163 patients randomly assigned to care using the cell phone system or usual care. The study was presented this week at the American Association of Diabetes Educators meeting in Las Vegas. It has been published online ahead of the September issue of Diabetes Care a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

“We studied the impact of combining web and mobile-based patient coaching with clinical decision support for community primary care providers, and compared this approach with standard diabetes management or usual care alone,” said Charlene C. Quinn, R.N., Ph.D. of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and lead investigator for the study. “The trial results indicate that doctors and patients can engage more effectively using mobile health tools like the WellDoc system to enhance patients’ diabetes care and their blood glucose.”

The WellDoc Automated Expert Analytics System™, which powers the DiabetesManager® app on the cell phone, provides people with type 2 diabetes with daily information and clinical decision support for their providers that effectively extend care beyond traditional office visits. In other words the information you record about your diabetes can be shared with your doctor to provide a better ongoing monitoring of your diabetes.

WellDoc is a medical device company that is developing technology solutions aimed at chronic disease management. A year ago, the company’s DiabetesManager®, system became the first mobile health, or mHealth system to be FDA-approved. It is indicated for use by healthcare providers and their adult patients with type 2 diabetes, and is not intended to replace the care provided by a licensed healthcare professional, including prescriptions, diagnosis, or treatment.

The company plans to begin marketing the DiabetesManager later this year.