New Smartphone App Helps Pregnant Manage Diabetes

We have some news for you which we think you will find interesting. There is a new app for smartphones that is currently in its trial stage. Its purpose is to help pregnant women who happen to be diabetic better manage their condition. This includes helping them hinder the gaining of excessive weight while pregnant. This is because excess weight can lead to diabetes complications and even diabetes itself. Then there is gestational diabetes which is the kind that develops during the second half of one’s pregnancy. During this time, there is an occurrence of insufficient insulin production. This is because it needs to meet the extra demands that pregnancy brings. And it should really be no surprise that the result of this is an increase in one’s blood glucose levels. When it comes to this particular kind of diabetes, it would seem that Singapore has one of the highest rates in the world. In fact, gestational diabetes seems to affect about 20-30% of expecting mothers in Singapore. But it’s not like it’s limited to just there. If you don't treat or manage it properly, gestational diabetes will most certainly lead to plenty of complications not just for you, but for the baby as well. The mother has an increased risk of high blood pressure, while the child is at risk of respiratory problems, jaundice, and, in the worst-case scenario, stillbirth. As gloomy and terrifying as this sounds, there is hope with the development of this new app provided by app development companies..

Getting Into More Detail

It will be of great aid to any pregnant women who feel that standard care is simply not enough. It was developed by NUH (National University Hospital) and, as we mentioned, is currently being used during a clinical trial. This app consists of several components, one of which is personalized, interactive lessons (as well as daily tips) in order to teach the mother, the importance of managing her condition properly and helping her along the way. Furthermore, there are these tracking features for helping women monitor both their blood glucose levels and their weight, even on the go. They do this through a detachable monitoring device.  It involves a blood strip test analysis to correctly determine the current blood sugar levels of the user. Additionally, one can pair this app with a Bluetooth weighing scale in order to help in charting one’s weight gain. It even helps track one’s intake of food! This is important because food can cause spikes in one’s blood sugar levels. This app features what is known as an automated chatbot, which prompts the user to take the action necessary if their blood glucose readings happen to be high. Moreover, this app has the goal to target behavioral changes. Most doctors believe it is exactly this which represents the key to managing one’s gestational diabetes, as well as helping those in pregnancy achieve optimal health. This clinical trial, which shows great promise indeed, started in September and involved 20 pregnant women. Its aim is to recruit as many as 340 participants during the course of the next 10 months. We shall see what the future brings, but this app certainly shows potential. For more information, there's a video in the source of this article that explains the app. Source: NHS