Aussies With Diabetes Can Now Track Their Sugar Levels In The New Digital Age

An Israeli start-up called LabStyle Innovations is now allowing patients living with diabetes, to incorporate their health in this tech & digital era. They are helping patients achieve this by the creation of the world's first contextual diabetes management solution: The Dario™ which turns any smart device into a personal glucose meter. At this moment, 122,300 Australians are living with the autoimmune disease that destroys the ability to produce insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels.This article written and suggested by mydario.com

Living with diabetes

With access to both real-time and historical blood glucose data, Dario™ is designed to spot patterns, recommend the right treatments and support behavior change efforts. The platform combines an all-in-one, blood glucose meter, smart phone application (iOS & Android), website application and treatment tools to support more proactive and better informed decisions by patients, doctors and healthcare systems.

For example, the app, in addition to providing glucose levels within seconds as well as charts and personalized information, also has integrated popular apps such as RunKeeper, helping diabetics better manage exercise and fitness activities, and FatSecret, which allows for better food intake management.

DARIO AVAILABLE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

The Dario is currently available in Australia and the UK – and reimbursed by the NHS, in Netherlands and New Zealand – and feedback from early adopters has been overwhelmingly positive.

Analysts believe the Dario combined with the Apple Watch seems to be an obvious opportunity for Apple and LabStyle to gather even more data that can help patients better and more independently self-manage the disease. The global blood glucose monitoring market is expected to reach $12 billion by 2017. More self-management may lead to fewer hospital visits and put a dent in the cost of diabetes management in the U.S., which was $245 billion in 2012.

The Dario kit includes the needle, the test strips, and the smartphone connector, is really well designed, and looks like a flash drive, and not like the standard pouch that diabetics carry with them - a significant advantage if someone needs to use the kit discreetly. What sets Dario apart is its ability to create a smartphone or device itself is the glucometer and, at the moment of the test, your personal data, which you or your doctor or caregiver entered, along with the data that have been gathered over time, go to work. An online support group sees your stats, and can help. For young patients, parents can see that their child has checked himself, when, and what his status is, even while they are at work and she/he is at school. The app itself is user-friendly, colorful, and knows how to praise and “befriend” you,

LIVING WITH DIABETES

For most patients living with diabetes, their lives revolve around their blood-sugar levels; as they test themselves numerous times each day, and if the patient is insulin-dependent, the patient also has to decide how much insulin to inject in order to balance his or her blood-sugar level. On the other hand, the patient must not reach the very dangerous opposite situation of hypoglycemia, or ‘low blood sugar,’ as it is commonly known, which can in extreme situations lead to death. Averages indicate that a patient receives four doctor-hours each year, but each and every day, the patient needs to make many decisions that affect his or her health.

For those patients that are insulin-dependent, the patient must keep a diary of his or her sugar levels, an accurate account of what was eaten and when, what physical activity they are engaged in, etc. On the basis of these entries, the doctor uses an industry accepted formula and runs a statistical analysis, and determines how much should be injected and when. Even without the device, anyone who wants can download the app for free, enter data manually, and use it.