Research
Hormonal
Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) metrics, specifically Time in Range (TIR) and Glycemic Variability (GV), provide superior clinical insight and safety compared to HbA1c alone by detecting hypoglycemia and glucose excursions that HbA1c misses.
If you have diabetes, rely on CGM data (Time in Range) alongside HbA1c. HbA1c tells you the average, but CGM shows the dangerous swings and lows that average numbers hide. Use this data to adjust diet and medication to stay in the 70-180 mg/dL range as much as possible.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
HbA1c provides only an approximate measure of glucose control; it does not address short-term glycemic variability (GV) or hypoglycemic events. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is a tool which helps clinicians and people with diabetes to overcome the limitations of HbA1c in diabetes management.
Why this rating
Based on a review of multiple RCTs (GOLD, DIAMOND) and meta-analyses cited in the text.
Source
A View Beyond HbA1c: Role of Continuous Glucose Monitoring
Haleh Chehregosha et al. · Diabetes Therapy · 2019
DOI 10.1007/s13300-019-0619-1
narrative_reviewCited 238×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Newer glucose-lowering agents (ultra-long-acting insulin analogs, SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1 RAs) reduce Glycemic Variability (GV) and hypoglycemia risk compared to older agents (e.g., insulin glargine 100U/mL) due to smoother pharmacodynamic profiles.Good
- Glycemic Variability (GV), defined by a coefficient of variation (CV) >36%, is independently associated with an increased risk of hypoglycemia and diabetes-related complications, regardless of HbA1c levels.Good
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