Wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) telemonitoring devices are increasingly being used to offer assistance to diabetes patients who must manage vital blood sugar parameters at all times.
Diabetes is a serious disease, and it is on the rise. The number of people suffering from the condition is estimated at more than 250 million people worldwide – almost 10 times more than 20 years ago. And it is estimated that the number of unreported cases is much higher because the symptoms of diabetes often go unnoticed or grow slowly over time, with the disease only being discovered very late and when the consequences are treacherous.
Diabetes is a chronic disease associated with the body’s inability to properly metabolise sugar. It cannot be healed, only controlled and managed. Without treatment and maintaining consistent control of blood sugar parameters, people with diabetes have a higher risk of suffering serious side effects or acute complications. For someone with the disease, it is essential to regularly monitor and control blood sugar levels and react quickly when critical thresholds are crossed.
To control diabetes, a person must test blood sugar in regular intervals and regulate the amount of food eaten with exact medicine dosage. Adopted by major US and UK health plans, healthimo’s Automated Diabetes Management System (ADMS) relies on the GlucoMON mHealth device, an M2M solution powered by Cinterion Wireless Modules’ TC65i module, to quickly and easily send blood sugar data via the wireless network to a Web portal that consolidates and analyses the data. The patient or caregiver can add information about the amount of food and water consumed, along with the amount of exercise and activity done, so a complete picture can be drawn.
Using healthimo’s diabetes education programme and GlucoMON device, patients receive a historical overview of blood sugar measurements in context of daily activity and on a timeline. This helps the patient better determine what can be done to maintain constant, healthy blood sugar parameters. healthimo’s GlucoMON-ADMS platform is said to be the first and only system of its kind that is proven with randomised and controlled clinical trial outcomes data, which is critical for coverage by major medical plans.
Wireless telemonitoring gives people suffering from diabetes peace of mind, it saves physicians time and it saves the healthcare system a lot of money. Health insurance companies have proven the benefits of telemonitoring in several studies that highlight their efficiency and cost saving potential for treating chronic diseases. For instance, hospital stays and accompanying expenses for patients suffering from chronic diseases have reportedly been cut by more than 50%. Today, expenses for treating chronic diseases devour more than two thirds of the health budget – so the cost saving potential of telemonitoring is massive. The eHealthcare market is in its infancy and the standardisation that is currently underway is expected to enable fast-paced growth of this sector.
Cinterion works together with its partners, to develop solutions in the telemonitoring sector and quickly bring them to market. Cinterion’s communication modules are the component of these solutions that enable anytime, anywhere communication over cellular networks. Cinterion products make tasks such as immediate alarm notification and blood sugar data communication possible – independent of location.
In another healthcare application, Cinterion and one of its partners – Royal Philips Electronics – recently jointly won the ‘Best Embedded End-to-End Service Award’, part of the GSMA’s embedded mobile competition, for its Respironics System One sleep therapy solution. The M2M solution integrates one of Cinterion’s award-winning Evolution platform modules and marries mobility and reliable two-way wireless communications with advancements in sleep apnea therapy to help millions of patients and their healthcare providers who must meet rigorous new reporting standards.
Sleep apnea is a potentially life threatening condition that occurs when a person repeatedly stops breathing during sleep. System One provides treatment by delivering a specific flow of pressurised air through a mask to keep the airway open. The new solution integrates Cinterion’s TC65i module to enable two-way, anywhere wireless communication between the patient’s device and doctor. The module sends sophisticated patient breathing data from the device to a secure EncoreAnywhere Web-based platform.
Physicians log on to EncoreAnywhere to obtain timely, detailed breathing reports and respond with prescription air pressure changes sent instantly over-the-air to the device, providing immediate patient relief. Cinterion’s TC65i module provides on-board memory to store reports that detail every breath a patient takes for up to five days. In addition, the system provides storage capacity for six months of chronologically arranged compliance data necessary for reimbursement from healthcare providers.
For more information contact Brian Scott, Cinterion, +27 (0)11 589 8011, [email protected], www.cinterion.com
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