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Do you guys think the blood glucose meter would really work? Non bloodstream measuring methods have been promised for years, (not by Apple), yet every diabetic I know still pricks their fingers daily. It would certainly be a game changer and really improve many people’s lives.
Many diabetics no longer do it daily, only in times of illness, say, when glucose is erratic. The FreeStyle Libre puts a tiny filament into the skin and samples from interstitial fluid, so there’s a 15-minute delay in when is reflected by readings, hence the need to still sometimes test directly from blood. But for daily routine, I open an app and tap a button, then hold the top of my iPhone near the sensor and boom, there’s my glucose reading for a little bit earlier, plus a bunch of other data for as far as eight hours back. It isn’t non-invasive but it’s not painful like finger pricking can be, and my fingers have been very grateful for being given a break.

The ‘trouble’ is each sensor lasts just 14 days and there’s a lot of packaging waste, including from the applicator that pushes the sensor against your skin with just enough force for the flexible filament to go through it.
 
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The alcohol monitoring via an external device isn't anything new per se. It's been used on probationers for years in combination with a GPS tracker & cellular backhaul to monitor alcohol levels for over a decade now. It uses sweat to calculate BAC. It's absolutely doable in a watch sized device.

I think it's a bad idea, from a legal and PR standpoint.

From a health standpoint? It's Meh for me. I don't drink, and I don't use any mind or mood altering drugs.

If you think you've had too much to drink, you have. Stop. Don't operate anything that could cause harm to others. Get home safely and stay there until you sober up.

The equipment renders measurements on par with the accuracy of a PBT. I've seen it used in the real world. I don't know about it being on a optional watch you can remove. I think it gets left out of the production model if it was being tested.
 
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Blood alcohol content sounds like a legal/PR nightmare.

They can put up all the disclaimers they like about it being an estimate, but some idiot is gonna get caught drunk driving and use it as an excuse at the first opportunity: My Apple Watch said I was ok to drive!

To the media outlets and public at large, it doesn't matter if they're lying or not.
How is that any different than the tons of other portable BAC detectors out there already?
 
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All three sensors delivered in two years? Might be a stretch. They would need to be FDA certified as well. However moving that way and getting 1 or 2 operating in that time frame would be a very big step forward.
Well it sounds like they’ve been in development with this company for years now, so who’s to say they haven’t?
 
The ‘trouble’ is each sensor lasts just 14 days and there’s a lot of packaging waste, including from the applicator that pushes the sensor against your skin with just enough force for the flexible filament to go through it.
That's not the only trouble with this system. Simply put: interstitial fluid is not accurate enough for all diabetics. I happen to be one of them, unfortunately. And I know several others like me. The systems end up reading erratic blood glucose measurements that are often times an hour if not more out of date. Eg:

"Hey dummy, your blood sugar is too low!"

I test my blood sugar and it's over 300. That means it was low, at one point, and I'm doing the whole Somogyi bounce. Or I'll look at my device and it'll say my blood sugar is stupidly high; I'll test it and it's bang on at 100. On and on.

The math behind interstitial fluid is sketchy at absolute best and, at least from my experience: shouldn't be relied on or even looked at.
 
Rockley are working with all the smartphone manufacturers so if they get it to work it would be available on all smartphones not just the iPhone.

Given the importance of this potential breakthrough I think that is the right thing to do.
 
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That's not the only trouble with this system. Simply put: interstitial fluid is not accurate enough for all diabetics. I happen to be one of them, unfortunately. And I know several others like me. The systems end up reading erratic blood glucose measurements that are often times an hour if not more out of date. Eg:

"Hey dummy, your blood sugar is too low!"

I test my blood sugar and it's over 300. That means it was low, at one point, and I'm doing the whole Somogyi bounce. Or I'll look at my device and it'll say my blood sugar is stupidly high; I'll test it and it's bang on at 100. On and on.

The math behind interstitial fluid is sketchy at absolute best and, at least from my experience: shouldn't be relied on or even looked at.
Hm, do I trust you or the UK’s NHS and associated medical pros after years of using FreeStyle Libre with other patients more in need of getting their glucose under control? ;-)
 
They've been saying this about Apple Watch since series 0.

There is reason why taking blood pressure today is not done with a wrist strap.
 
Very cool for medical field. Blood glucose alone would be a great addition. If the Series 7 is redesigned this year, I’ll upgrade my Series 5.
 
Remember how 10 years ago everyone who wanted their heart rate measured needed to wear a belt around their chest because it was deemed impossible to get an accurate heart rate measurement from the wrist?
More like 15 years ago.
 
So, blood glucose certification takes a long time on a country by country basis. The finger prick is considered best accuracy at home, and still many have an uncomfortable high MARD value https://diatribe.org/are-blood-glucose-meters-accurate-new-data-18-meters , even with a good thirty years of tech invested in five second result readers.

From wearable standpoint, Abbott Freestyle Libre 1 was on the cusp of rejection in many countries due to high MARD, with Libre 2 finally matching Dexcom G6 at the 9% mark. That inaccuracy, with the ten-fifteen minute delay reading interstitial glucose barely works... with often needing to require over twenty four hours in to a ten day sensor before readings are a bit more accurate. They are impacted by compression lows, and just two days ago I had a new sensor only starting 150mg/dL (5.0 mmol/L) out of range.

Do I think if I wear a watch just right, and long enough there can be a general idea that blood sugar is 'high' for over a thirty minute period? Sure. That's a telling indicator for someone to go to a doctor and figure out if there's an issue. Very, very skeptical of anything better than that today.

Just get the Dexcom sensors directly talking over bluetooth with the Apple Watch without need of the phone, Apple?
 
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If it could track someone's A1C level that would also be a game changer too.
If you track someone's glucose fairly accurately over time, you can now calculate an accurate A1C number. That's all A1C is, average glucose levels over time.
 
Hm, do I trust you or the UK’s NHS and associated medical pros after years of using FreeStyle Libre with other patients more in need of getting their glucose under control? ;-)
I quite frankly don't care who you trust. :) Do what works best for your health, of course. CGMs as they stand do not work for mine. But then I keep my A1c down in the "non-diabetic" range of 5.x, and as I stated earlier in this thread, been doing this since I was 1 year old. So I know who I trust. ;-)
 
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As a person who has to go out drinking a lot with people for work (I’m an investment banker) the blood alcohol testing would be a life saver so I can actually drive into work.
 
Anyone getting in on that IPO?

I’m highly skeptical about the glucose and alcohol monitors. Specifically, A reliable, accurate, non-invasive glucose monitoring seems really like an invention taken from a distant future.
Not really. It’s a total game changer, and lots of activity in the medical device space. There are at least two Israeli companies with a light-based transcutaneous BGN in development, as well as contact-based products for continuous monitoring. True, its hard, but pulse oximetry was once pie in the sky too.
 
BP without a cuff would be pretty radical. Continuous BP would be really interesting, medically speaking. Today medicine can't use it, because docs don't really understand what to do with data.

But huge longitudinal studies with continuous monitoring could lead to great things. Eat, and you can see the impact on your glucose and BP immediately. Over time, you could show the potential harm/gain of what you eat.

Data telemetry is already being used for monitoring in drug trials. This stuff would provide more signals, for both compliance and side-effects.
 
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