Thirty-eight million Americans have diabetes -- 10% of those with diabetes have Type 1.
It’s usually diagnosed in children and young adults, meaning these people will need to learn how to control their glucose levels and administer insulin throughout their entire lives.
But new breakthroughs are helping people with Type 1 diabetes manage it easier than ever before.
Casey Fiesler had to learn to count carbs, check her glucose levels and deal with her insulin pump multiple times a day after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during the pandemic.
“It is something that you have to think about constantly,” she said.
Fiesler, like many with Type 1 diabetes, uses a bionic pancreas -- a small patch that’s placed on the skin, to monitor glucose levels. It requires users to manually put in the amount of carbs they consume. A smartphone then alerts patients when levels are too high or too low.
“Right now, the devices monitor blood sugar, and they respond by delivering more or less insulin based on that one number,” explained Stephen Voida, an associate professor of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder.
But what if these pumps could become even smarter? Fiesler is now part of a team at the University of Colorado Boulder working on an algorithm that won’t just react, but predict more accurately how blood sugars will change.
“So, instead of just looking at ‘What’s your blood sugar?’ and ‘Is it going up or down?’ we’re looking at ‘What’s your blood sugar?’ ‘What’s your location?’ ‘What’s on your calendar?’ ‘Who else is around you?’” Voida added.
The smarter device gives patients more freedom to live their lives without constantly thinking about their Type 1 diabetes.
One issue that will need to be tackled is privacy. Fiesler studies privacy and ethical issues surrounding digital technologies and said one concern will be what people are willing to share in exchange for a smarter device to help manage Type 1 diabetes.