Clinical assessment of blood glucose homeostasis in horses: comparison of a continuous glucose monitoring system with a combined intravenous glucose and insulin test protocol.

The study focused on using a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) as an effective tool in evaluating insulin sensitivity in equids. The findings reveal a favorable comparison of interstitial glucose concentrations obtained through CGMS compared to blood glucose concentrations obtained via the traditional method.

Objective

The aim of the study was to establish the usefulness of results obtained through a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) in evaluating glucose responses during insulin sensitivity tests conducted on equids.

Methods Employed

• The study was conducted on seven mature, overweight ponies. These ponies were equipped with a CGMS that helped in determining the interstitial glucose concentrations.
• The ponies were administered glucose (150 mg/kg, i.v.) and insulin (0.1 U/kg, i.v.).
• Following this, the blood glucose concentrations were measured at various time points – 1, 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 minutes after administering the glucose and insulin. A hand-held glucometer was used for this purpose.
• The blood chemistry results obtained were then compared with the results gathered through the CGMS.

Results

• The study used concordance coefficients to compare the blood glucose concentrations determined by the hand-held glucometer and those determined by the CGMS after the zero time point. The respective coefficients for delays of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes were found to be 0.623, 0.764, 0.834, 0.854, and 0.818.

Conclusions

• The results shown by the CGMS, in terms of interstitial glucose concentrations, compared favorably to those of blood glucose concentrations obtained through the traditional method.
• Thus, it’s inferred that CGMS can be an effective tool in the assessment of glucose dynamics during the combined glucose-insulin test (CGIT) employed for evaluating insulin sensitivity.