• N R Hill, P C Hindmarsh, R J Stevens, I M Stratton, J C Levy, and D R Matthews.
• Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK.
• Diabet. Med. 2007 Jul 1;24(7):753-8.

AimAs the practice of multiple assessments of glucose concentration throughout the day increases for people with diabetes, there is a need for an assessment of glycaemic control weighted for the clinical risks of both hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia.MethodsWe have developed a methodology to report the degree of risk which a glycaemic profile represents. Fifty diabetes professionals assigned risk values to a range of 40 blood glucose concentrations. Their responses were summarised and a generic function of glycaemic risk was derived. This function was applied to patient glucose profiles to generate an integrated risk score termed the Glycaemic Risk Assessment Diabetes Equation (GRADE). The GRADE score was then reported by use of the mean value and the relative percent contribution to the weighted risk score from the hypoglycaemic, euglycaemic, hyperglycaemic range, respectively, e.g. GRADE (hypoglycaemia%, euglycaemia%, hyperglycaemia%).ResultsThe GRADE scores of indicative glucose profiles were as follows: continuous glucose monitoring profile non-diabetic subjects GRADE = 1.1, Type 1 diabetes continuous glucose monitoring GRADE = 8.09 (20%, 8%, 72%), Type 2 diabetes home blood glucose monitoring GRADE = 9.97 (2%, 7%, 91%).ConclusionsThe GRADE score of a glucose profile summarises the degree of risk associated with a glucose profile. Values < 5 correspond to euglycaemia. The GRADE score is simple to generate from any blood glucose profile and can be used as an adjunct to HbA1c to report the degree of risk associated with glycaemic variability.

22 keywords...

hide…