Abbott's REFLECT real-world retrospective studies indicate that FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology use is linked to a significant decrease in hospitalisation risk for heart complications in individuals with diabetes.
This data suggests that CGM can mitigate the heart-related issue severity in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), irrespective of their low blood sugar events or heart disease history.
The REFLECT studies also demonstrated that utilising the Libre biowearable technology, a similar decline in heart-related hospital admissions was observed for individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) on insulin.
Further details highlighted an 80% reduction in the cardiovascular disease hospitalisation risk among T1D patients without a previous history of such conditions when using Libre, against those on traditional blood glucose monitoring methods.
For those with a history of cardiovascular disease, the risk was cut by 49%.
Abbott noted that REFLECT research encompassed various cardiovascular conditions frequently observed in diabetes patients, including heart failure, non-fatal heart attacks, strokes, atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular death, and coronary artery disease.
Funded by the company, these studies utilised data from the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR).
Published between October 2024 and last month, the studies evaluated the influence of intermittently scanned CGM against blood glucose monitoring on HbA1c levels and hospitalisations in adult patients with T2D treated by insulin.
These studies also evaluated the impact of hospitalisation rates for metabolic and vascular complications in T1D, and the risk of cardiovascular complications following severe hypoglycaemia in T1D patients.
Abbott diabetes care business chief medical officer Mahmood Kazemi said: "These data are transformative and show just how valuable FreeStyle Libre technology is for managing both diabetes and heart health, helping millions of people live healthy lives.”
Last month, the company reported new data from its Volt CE Mark study, indicating that those treated with pulsed field ablation (PFA) therapy with the Volt PFA system for atrial fibrillation (AFib) showed efficacy and safety up to 12 months.
