From left: Dr Juliana Lui, Prof Ronald Ma, Ms Stella Lau, Dr Elaine ChowContinuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in young diabetes patients not only improves HbA1c levels, but also substantially reduces hospitalizations due to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), severe hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia crisis, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have reported.
“These interim results from the Jockey Club Support for Young People with Diabetes programme demonstrate tremendous benefit of CGM technology for young individuals with diabetes,” said Professor Ronald Ma, Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, CUHK.
Support programme for young diabetes patients
Launched in 2023, the 4-year programme, organized by the Youth Diabetes Action (YDA) and supported by CUHK’s Faculty of Medicine and the Association of Hong Kong Diabetes Nurses, aims to provide comprehensive diabetes support to 1,200 Hong Kong residents with diabetes aged 2–30 years. Support provided includes free CGM for 2 years, and insulin pump with 3 years’ supply of related consumables for 10 patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) requiring intensive glycaemic control.
“By September 2025, 29,847 CGM devices had been provided to 958 participants, including 837 with T1D,” said Ms Stella Lau, Executive Director of YDA. “Individuals aged <2 or >30 years with financial or diabetes management difficulties or pregnant women may also apply for special approval for free CGM access.”
Improved HbA1c at 6 months and 1 year
As of 22 August 2025, 642 participants (mean age, 24.2 years; female, 60.4 percent; adults, 72.7 percent; T1D, 87.1 percent) had been recruited. At baseline, HbA1c was ≥7 percent in 61.2 percent of participants, and 60.4 percent did not use CGM regularly (ie, >80 percent of the time for 3 months).
A total of 469 participants (73.1 percent) had completed 6-month follow-up, while 343 (53.4 percent) and 44 (6.9 percent) had completed 1-year and 2-year follow-up, respectively.
“Among adult participants [n=227], point-of-care [PoC] HbA1c improved significantly after 6 months and 1 year of CGM use vs baseline [7.1 and 7.1 percent vs 7.6 percent; p<0.001]. No significant improvements in PoC HbA1c were observed among youth participants [n=98; 7.6, 7.5 and 7.4 percent at baseline, 6 months and 1 year, respectively],” said Ma.
Significant improvements in PoC HbA1c were observed across participants with baseline CGM use <30 or ≥30 percent, and across participants with baseline HbA1c of 7.4, 8.7 or 10.8 percent.
Reduced hospitalizations for severe complications
“After 1 year of CGM use, an 84.6 percent relative risk reduction [RRR] in hospitalization for DKA was found compared with baseline [incidence rate (IR), 0.639 vs 4.153 per 100 patient-years (PYs)]. The RRR for hospitalization due to severe hypoglycaemia was 61.1 percent [IR, 2.053 vs 5.279 per 100 PYs], while that for hospitalization due to hyperglycaemia crisis was 52.2 percent [IR, 3.226 vs 6.745 per 100 PYs],” reported Ma.
Among participants with baseline CGM use <30 percent, RRRs of 100, 44.4 and 55.6 percent were found for hospitalization due to DKA, severe hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia crisis, respectively. Among those with baseline CGM use ≥30 percent, RRRs were 77.8, 77.8 and 50.0 percent, respectively.
“Based on mean hospital costs per episode of DKA, severe hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia crisis in T1D patients in the Hong Kong Diabetes Register [n=408], CGM use is estimated to be associated with a total annual reduction in hospitalization costs of HKD 16.2 million among the territory-wide T1D population,” said Dr Juliana Lui of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK.