A download has one number everyone quotes and several that actually tell you what to change. Start with the sensor wear time: below about 70%, every other figure on the page is describing a fraction of the patient's life and should not drive a dose change.
Then read in this order. Time below range first, because hypoglycaemia sets the ceiling on everything else — no basal increase is safe until that is dealt with. Then glucose variability, because a high coefficient of variation with an acceptable average means the mean is an artefact of swings in both directions. Only then time in range, and only then the average or estimated HbA1c.
Finally, look at the shape of the daily overlay rather than the summary statistics. A rise that starts at the same hour every day is a basal or timing problem you can fix in one change; scattered spikes at different times are a meal, dosing or bolus-timing problem and need a different conversation entirely. The summary numbers tell you whether there is a problem; only the overlay tells you which one.
- Check sensor wear time first — under about 70% and the rest of the report is unreliable
- Address time below range before making any change that raises insulin
- Read the coefficient of variation before the mean; high variability makes a good average meaningless
- Use the daily overlay to distinguish a same-time-every-day pattern from scattered spikes
- Change one thing per review, and write down what you changed and why, so the next download is interpretable
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for diabetes & endocrinology, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free