App helps diabetics lower blood sugar with doctor's help

A new smartphone app may be more effective in helping diabetics lower their blood sugar with a doctor's input.

The Diabeo mobile phone program, which recommends insulin dosages to patients with type 1 diabetes, more successfully lowered blood sugar levels if a doctor also helped users manage their disease.

"What the electronic system is not able to do is the magic of the doctor - to give motivational support to the patient, to encourage the patient to do what the patient does not want to do," study leader Dr. Guillaume Charpentier told Reuters Health.

Charpentier re-examined the results of a prior study on the Diabeo system to figure out how much the app itself contributed to the improved blood sugar levels, and how much was because of the doctor's intervention. Out of 180 patients with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes, two-thirds of them used the app. It analyzed self-monitored blood-glucose levels, carbohydrate counts, physical activity and other personal variables to calculate recommended insulin doses.

This time around, researchers looked at participants who frequently and infrequently operated the mobile app. The app seemed to be most beneficial for infrequent users, who lowered their glucose levels by more than 1 percent about 42 percent of the time. Regular users lowered their glucose levels by the same amount only 16 percent of the time.

"This system is a very good tool to improve the contact between the patient and the doctor when the patient really needs the doctor. The system can alarm the doctor at the right time," he said.

Charpentier, from Sud-Francilien Hospital in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, believes the app is most beneficial when a doctor is alerted that their patient is struggling to implement their recommendations.

"What this really speaks to is personalizing medicine," said Dr. Latha Palaniappa, from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California. "This could help us figure out who's going to need the telephone consultation. It's just better tailoring of therapy for the right patient population."

The same principle is being applied to alcoholics with the Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System, or A-CHESS, program. A-CHESS helps alcoholics avoid "risky behaviors" if they commit to using the app, compared to heavy drinkers who seek help through traditional therapy, Health Central said.