A G4 Platinum continuous glucose monitor paired with an iPhone 4S running special software was found to be better than a traditional insulin pump approach in a study on adolescent and adult diabetic monitoring published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Relying on a custom hardware interface, the device provided participants with real-time glucose monitoring, and insulin and glucose doses administered by infusion pumps controlled wirelessly by Apple’s smartphone. During the study, patients provided insight on food intake, describing their meals using phrases like “small bite” or “dinner” and the system then adapted insulin dosing.

“As compared with an insulin pump, a wearable, automated, bihormonal, bionic pancreas improved mean glycemic levels, with less frequent hypoglycemic episodes, among both adults and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes mellitus.”The study titled “Outpatient Glycemic Control with a Bionic Pancreas in Type 1 Diabetes” focused on the safety and effectiveness of automated glycemic management under unrestricted outpatient conditions.

“As compared with an insulin pump, a wearable, automated, bihormonal, bionic pancreas improved mean glycemic levels, with less frequent hypoglycemic episodes, among both adults and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes mellitus,” the study’s authors concluded.

The entire mHealth monitoring and diagnostic market will be a $8.03 billion market, with an annual growth rate of 43.3% from 2014 through 2019, according to a recent Transparency Market Research report.

[Via: FierceMobileHealthcare]