Introduction: Digital therapeutic platforms are often used to assist users in maintaining target blood glucose levels and to prevent diabetes complications. Digital engagement can play a central role in supporting behavioral changes to manage diabetes. Such platforms allow evaluation of patient's blood glucose levels in real time and intervene based on actual behavioral and clinical indicators. The study examines the ratios of blood glucose levels over time based on real world data in one such platform.
Method: A retrospective data evaluation study was performed on the DarioTM data base. A population (“high-risk users”) of all users with type 2 diabetes activated during 2017-2020 who took measurements with Dario in the first 2 months and who started with an average blood glucose above 180 mg/dL was evaluated. The ratios assessed were target range (70-180 mg/dL) and high blood glucose (>180 mg/dL) readings over a year. Socioeconomic status was matched by applying zip code data to census.gov data.
Results: For 11,101 users, the average ratio of target range readings (70-180 mg/dL) was significantly increased from 28.4% to 54.8% (P<0.001). Average high events ratio (>180 mg/dL) was significantly reduced from 71.3% to 44.4% over a full year usage (P<0.001). The change appeared in the earliest months and was maintained over a year. Average number of days between measurements, i.e., “recency” was 3.3 days. A subset of Spanish language app users (N=169) was also evaluated, and comparable trends were observed. Matching Census.gov data on study population showed that 20% of users resided in low income zip codes, 70% in middle and 10% in upper income zip codes.
Conclusion: Digital therapeutic platforms may promote behavior modification in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes to create sustainable outcomes. The study revealed that the digital diabetes platform has the potential to enhance self-care behaviors across socioeconomic statuses and among different language speakers.
Y. Hershcovitz: Employee; Self; DarioHealth. S. Dar: Employee; Self; DarioHealth. O. Manejwala: Employee; Self; DarioHealth, Stock/Shareholder; Self; DarioHealth. D. Bacher: Employee; Self; DarioHealth.