Quantified Self and diabetes, a presentation I did at the Quantified Self meetup in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 2014-09-10

1. Quantified Self et diabète
comme la technologie aide un diabétique de type
1 à chaque instant
QS Meetup Lausanne - 2014-09-10
Luca Bertagnolio
E: luca@berta.com
T: @lucaberta

2. What is diabetes?
Diabetes is an metabolic condition related to how
the body produces or uses insulin, an hormone
produced in the pancreas
There are two main types of diabetes:
Type 1, or juvenile diabetes
Type 2, or adult-onset diabetes

3. What is the difference between
type 1 and type 2 diabetes?
In type 1 diabetes, the beta cells in the pancreas
are destroyed by an auto-immune reaction, so
insulin MUST be taken
In type 2 diabetes, insulin is still produced but the
body is less able to “use” it properly due to bad
health habits. Changing habits soon after
recognizing the symptoms allows for a complete
remission from type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetics are 90%, type 1 less than 10%

4. What is similar in the two
types of diabetes?
Keeping blood sugar levels stable is key
When BG is stable, there are less problems with
hypo- or hyper-glycemia
BG changes very rapidly, even just a few minutes
Control of how much and what is eaten is key
Control of how much insulin is injected is
fundamental

5. Diabetes and technology
Once upon a time only labs could do BG tests
Today we can use BG meters to take period
measurements BUT!
BG meters can only be used infrequently
It's always painful to prick your finger for the blood!

6. BG meter and software

7. New technology: CGM
Continuous Glucose Monitor
Since about 10 years the CGM technology has
been promoted by many different vendors
It allows to keep measuring the BG level at any
given time, without any user interaction
It enables monitoring also during the sleep or
while driving
It can alerts when the BG falls or exceeds
specific limits

8. Dexcom G4 Platinum CGM

9. CGM and software 1/2

10. CGM and software 2/2

11. Issues I found with CGM
Analysis of data is still very manual
Patients are often more skilled than the doctors!
Need to establish clear workflows on what to do
with the data (same as with any QS data!)
Different devices all use the same unlicensed 2.4
GHz band for PAN → I am having interference
between my Dexcom and Garmin GPS and heart
rate monitor when I run :-(
Closed standards! :-( … BUT!

12. The future: CGM in the cloud