Aiming for the Best Glycemic Control Beyond Time in Range: Time in Tight Range as a New Continuous Glucose Monitoring Metric in Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Using Different Treatment Modalities

Abstract

Introduction:

To evaluate time in tight range (TITR) 70–140 mg/dL (3.9–7.8 mmol/L), its correlation with standard continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) metrics and the clinical variables that possibly have a substantial impact on its value, in a large cohort of pediatric subjects using different treatment strategies.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 854 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes were consecutively recruited in this real world, dual center, cross-sectional study. Participants were categorized into four treatment groups (multiple daily injections [MDI] + real-time CGM, MDI + intermittently scanned CGM, sensor augmented pump, and hybrid closed loop [HCL]). Demographical and clinical data, including CGM data, were collected and analyzed.

Results:

The overall study population exhibited an average TITR of 36.4% ± 12.8%. HCL users showed higher TITR levels compared to the other treatment groups (P < 0.001). A time in range (TIR) cut-off value of 71.9% identified subjects achieving a TITR ≥50% (area under curve [AUC] 0.98; 95% confidence interval 0.97–0.99, P < 0.001), and a strong positive correlation between these two metrics was observed (r = 0.95, P < 0.001). An increase in TIR of 1% was associated with 1.84 (R ² Nagelkerke = 0.35, P < 0.001) increased likelihood of achieving TITR ≥50%.

Use of HCL systems (B = 7.78; P < 0.001), disease duration (B = −0.26, P = 0.006), coefficient of variation (B = −0.30, P = 0.004), and glycated hemoglobin (B = −8.82; P < 0.001) emerged as significant predictors of TITR levels.

Conclusions:

Our study highlights that most children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes present TITR levels below 50%, except those using HCL. Tailored interventions and strategies should be implemented to increase TITR.