Getting On the Same Page About Time in Range
By Natalie SainzArvind Sommi
Healthcare providers and people with diabetes are finding that time in range (TIR) provides clear and timely information for managing your blood glucose. diaTribe Senior Associates Natalie Sainz and Arvind Sommi shared new data that highlights how you and your healthcare provider might look at TIR in different ways.
In her presentation, Sainz shared that there are significant differences in how people with diabetes – compared to how healthcare providers – perceive the benefits of time in range. For example, 47% of people with diabetes perceived TIR as simple and intuitive to understand, compared to 56% of healthcare providers who said the same thing. Additionally, 54% of people with diabetes identified TIR as a metric that informs treatment decisions to manage glucose, compared to 70% of healthcare providers.
“Overall, people with diabetes seem to value the simplicity, ease, and clarity of TIR, whereas healthcare providers value the information and management help that TIR provides for treatment decisions,” said Sainz.
Notably, Most people with diabetes (71%) and healthcare providers (73%) agreed that TIR provides timely insight on diabetes management compared to periodic A1C tests.
Sommi shared information on the resources used by different types of healthcare providers (diabetes educators, endocrinologists, and primary care providers) to educate people with diabetes about TIR. According to Sommi, diabetes educators were most likely to recommend CGM for all people with diabetes. Diabetes educators were also more likely than endocrinologists to discuss TIR with people who did not use a CGM (56% compared to 34%).
“Diabetes educators relied more heavily on TIR and CGM reports while primary care providers more often relied on verbal instructions,” said Sommi.
Both studies highlighted opportunities to get people with diabetes and their primary care providers on the same page about TIR. The metric allows people with diabetes to make more informed decisions about their health, so a deeper understanding of the benefits may be helpful when assessing the value of TIR.
You can talk to your healthcare provider about the benefits of TIR. If certain educational materials aren’t working for you or you aren’t understanding the value of TIR, ask your doctor about other ways to learn about TIR.
Read more here about how to talk to your healthcare provider about TIR:
