October 17, 2025
The authors of an IMPACT Collaboratory pilot study recently published a response to a letter to the editor in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) that discussed the authors’ JAGS article, Agreement Between Fingerstick Blood Glucose and Continuous Glucose Monitor Measures Among Long-Term Care Facility Residents, published in August 2025.
The letter to the editor by Dr. Elpidio Santillo emphasized the burden of undetected hypoglycemia and the need for wider continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) use in long-term care (LTC) settings.
In their response, IMPACT authors Marzan A. Khan, Medha N. Munshi, Christine Slyne, Nina R. Joyce and Andrew R. Zullo reiterate that fingerstick blood glucose missed about 80% of hypoglycemic events detected by CGM and agree that this under-detection represents a significant gap in resident safety. They highlight the potential benefits of unblinded, real-time CGM for improving glycemic control and call for future studies to evaluate its effectiveness in diverse LTC populations.
The authors also note that implementing CGM more broadly will require addressing cost, reimbursement, and workflow integration challenges, but emphasize that these efforts align with emerging clinical recommendations supporting CGM use for older adults with insulin-treated diabetes.
Read the full letter here.