Using mHealth to Measure Glycemic Variability in T1D

Here are some thoughts based on interaction with people who have been diabetics for a while.

The HbA1c is a valid marker but people are concerned that having a good HbA1c doesnt necessarily mean that someone is perfect and in good health with respect to their sugar levels. They could in fact have had quite a few lows/highs, felt terrible since a while and yet have a good HbA1c. Things like 'time spent being in-range' and 'being steady' and 'feeling good' are what really matter. People have observed that their blood glucose levels can vary based on several factors such as exercise, food, insulin, general activity levels, weight etc. Everyone's end goal is to have a good time 'in-range'. Due to the lack of a systematic way to measure and assess what helps build the time 'in-range' and come up with findings to possibly establish patterns, we are yet to make significant headway in this line. This is where ResearchKit and mHeakth tools can help immensely to capture data and health trends in ways like never before. These tools can help capture real time and accurate data not just as user inputs but also from sensorrs and native device features such as motion sensors, geo-location, pedometer, Healthkit etc. The Health database on the iPhone acts as a wonderful data aggregator that your app can read from or write to and this in turn can further the cause of using mobility to understand how lifestyles, habits and a number of other factors impact health.