Continuous glucose monitoring: A cost‐effective tool to reduce pre‐term birth rates in women with type one diabetes

Background Women with type one diabetes experience poorer obstetric outcomes than normoglycaemic women in pregnancy. Objective To investigate the cost and clinical effectiveness of continuous glucose monitoring (GCM) compared to self‐monitoring of blood glucose in improving obstetric outcomes in women with type one diabetes during pregnancy. Materials and Methods This retrospective cohort study included women with type one diabetes referred to a state‐wide tertiary obstetric centre before and after the introduction of government‐funded CGMs in Australia in March 2019. Forty‐nine women using CGMs were propensity matched on a range of clinical features with a historical group of 49 women with type one diabetes who exclusively used intermittent self‐monitoring of blood in the year prior to the introduction of funding of sensors. Medical records and administrative cost data were audited to quantify cost and clinical effectiveness. Results There were significantly lower pre‐term (95% CI 0.39–0.922; P = 0.026) and very pre‐term birth rates (95% CI 1.002–1.184; P = 0.041) in the CGM group. There was a significant reduction in the length of antenatal inpatient hospital stay (P