CGM may boost treatment satisfaction in type 2 diabetes, but other outcomes unclear
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Key Takeaway
CGM may improve treatment satisfaction in type 2 diabetes, but evidence for other outcomes is inconclusive.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of nine randomized trials involving 1,453 adults with type 2 diabetes compared continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). The primary focus was on patient-reported outcomes, including treatment satisfaction, diabetes distress, psychological well-being, and health-related quality of life.
Results showed that treatment satisfaction favored CGM over SMBG, but the effect magnitude varied widely with extremely high heterogeneity (I²=98.9%), making a single summary estimate unreliable. For diabetes distress, psychological well-being, and quality of life, no statistically significant differences were found between the two monitoring methods.
The analysis highlights that while CGM may enhance treatment satisfaction, its benefits for other psychological and quality-of-life measures remain uncertain. The very high heterogeneity for treatment satisfaction limits the certainty of this finding.
Limitations include the extreme heterogeneity and the lack of significant effects for other outcomes, which require further investigation. The findings reflect pooled associations, not direct causation.
In practice, CGM could be considered for improving treatment satisfaction in adults with type 2 diabetes, but clinicians should not overstate its impact on other patient-reported outcomes.
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View Original Abstract ↓
IntroductionThis research intended to systematically evaluate the impact of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) on the emotional well-being of individuals with type 2 diabetes. It focused on the effects of CGM in four distinct patient-reported outcome domains: diabetes distress (measured by the diabetes distress scale [DDS]), treatment satisfaction (diabetes treatment satisfaction questionnaire [DTSQ]), psychological well-being (world health organization-5 well-being index [WHO-5]), and health-related quality of life (EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire [EQ-5D]).MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library were retrieved from inception until April 2026 to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing CGM with self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). After two researchers independently performed literature screening, data extraction, and quality assessment, meta-analysis was conducted using Stata 16.0.ResultsA total of 9 RCTs comprising 1,453 individuals were included. All five studies reporting treatment satisfaction (DTSQ) showed a direction of effect favoring CGM over SMBG, although the magnitude of improvement varied widely and heterogeneity was extremely high (I²=98.9%), precluding a meaningful single summary estimate. However, no statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of diabetes distress (DDS) [standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) (-0.98, 0.17)], psychological well-being (WHO-5) [SMD = 0.08, 95% CI (-0.09, 0.25)], or health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) [SMD = 0.22, 95% CI (-0.20, 0.64)].ConclusionCurrent evidence indicates that CGM may improve treatment satisfaction in individuals with type 2 diabetes, although this finding is limited by very high heterogeneity. Its effects on alleviating diabetes distress, improving psychological well-being, and enhancing health-related quality of life remain unclear and should be further investigated.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42025634725.
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