Availability of Open Dynamic Glycemic Data in the Field of Diabetes Research: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background:

Poor data availability and accessibility characterizing some research areas in biomedicine are still limiting potentialities for increasing knowledge and boosting technological advancement. This phenomenon also characterizes the field of diabetes research, in which glycemic data may serve as a basis for different applications. To overcome this limitation, this review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the publicly available data sets related to dynamic glycemic data.

Methods:

Search was performed in four different sources, namely scientific journals, Google, a comprehensive registry of clinical trials and two electronic databases. Retrieved data sets were analyzed in terms of their main characteristics and on the typology of data provided.

Results:

Twenty-five data sets were identified including data from challenge tests (5 of 25) or data from Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM, 20 of 25). As for the data sets including challenge tests, all of them were freely downloadable; most of them (80%) related only to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with standard duration (2 h), but varying for timing and number of collected blood samples, and variables collected in addition to glucose levels (with insulin levels being the most common); the remaining 20% of them also included intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) data. As for the data sets related to CGM, 7 of 20 were freely downloadable, whereas the remaining 13 were downloadable upon completion of a request form.

Conclusions:

This review provided an overview of the readily usable data sets, thus representing a step forward in fostering data access in diabetes field.