Remote patient monitoring enabled by Abbott’s technologies improve diabetes management post-pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges for patients trying to access and navigate the healthcare system, especially for those living with a chronic condition like diabetes. For many, it seriously disrupted the delivery of regular diabetes care, in-person appointments and increased the complications related to diabetes including diabetic foot ulcers, hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis. In fact, individuals with diabetes are three times more likely to be hospitalized at least once during the year, and have a longer hospital stay, compared to those without diabetes.[1]

The solution? Many patients with diabetes and healthcare providers turned to virtual care as a critical solution to ensure the continuity of care.[2,3,4]

Innovative, timely and seamless digital health tools, including Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre* and Libre 2** flash glucose monitoring systems, have been a critical support tool for people with diabetes during the pandemic and beyond.5 Patients are empowered to track their glucose levels in real-time and seamlessly share their data via LibreView***, which provides secure, online access to the glucose reports with actionable insights. This enables healthcare providers to have empowered, productive and efficient conversations with their patients and make informed treatment decisions.

In a post-pandemic world, virtual care is expected to continue to play an important role in managing of chronic conditions like diabetes. As such, the FreeStyle Libre portfolio systems will also continue to serve as a transformative and enabling digital health tool to achieve quadruple aim outcomes including empowering patients and providers and improving patient and health system outcomes.

[1] Public Health Agency of Canada. Diabetes in Canada: Facts and Figures From a Public Health Perspective. Ottawa; 2011.

[2] Bhatia, R. S., Chu, C., Pang, A., Tadrous, M., Stamenova, V., & Cram, P. (2021). Virtual care use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A repeated cross-sectional study. CMAJ Open, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20200311 

[3] https://www.diabetes.ca/media-room/news/patient---caregiver-survey-results

[4] https://bjd-abcd.com/index.php/bjd/article/view/703/913

[5] Technology empowers patients and improves virtual care - The Globe and Mail

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DISCLAIMERS

*The FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system is indicated for measuring interstitial fluid glucose levels in adults aged 18 years and older with diabetes mellitus. Always read and follow the label/insert

** The FreeStyle Libre 2 flash glucose monitoring system is indicated for measuring interstitial fluid glucose levels in people aged 4 years and older with diabetes mellitus. Always read and follow the label/insert.

*** The LibreView website is only compatible with certain operating systems and browsers. Please check www.libreview.com for additional information.