The benefits of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) require ongoing use. Past studies suggest that use ≥6 days/week is optimal to obtain benefit. We examined usage of Dexcom’s G6 CGM system over the course of 12 months.
We studied anonymized data from a convenience sample of 3,000 US-based patients who first uploaded a G6 estimated glucose value (EGV) before 01-SEP-2018 and whose most recent uploaded EGV was within 1 week of the 1-year anniversary of their start date. Persistence was the percentage of observed days in which ≥1 EGV was uploaded. For each patient-week, the number of days with ≥1 EGV was calculated. Data density was the ratio of observed to possible EGVs.
At 1 year, most patients had used the system on >96% of possible days and 90% of observed patient-weeks had CGM usage on ≥6 days. Overall data density was >83%. Usage statistics were high in all self-reported age groups, but lower among teens/young adults than among those <13 or >25 years of age (Table).
Age (years) | <13 | 13-25 | >25 | Overall |
n | 500 | 700 | 1800 | 3000 |
Mean (SD) 1-year persistence | 92.04 (15.61)% | 87.14 (17.50)% | 90.93 (14.17)% | 90.22 (15.37)% |
Median (IQR) 1-year persistence | 98.36 (92.60-100.0)% | 94.25 (82.74-98.63)% | 96.71 (89.32-99.18)% | 96.44 (88.49-99.18)% |
Patient-weeks with ≥6 days CGM usage | 90.00% | 84.86% | 92.00% | 90.00% |
Data Density | 83.34% | 79.71% | 84.63% | 83.27% |
The high persistence, proportion of patient-weeks with ≥6 days of use, and data density suggest that G6 users trust, find value in, and benefit from their CGM.