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Review
. 2020 Jul 4;19(1):102.
doi: 10.1186/s12933-020-01085-6.

Glycemic variability: adverse clinical outcomes and how to improve it?

Zheng Zhou  1 , Bao Sun  2   3 , Shiqiong Huang  4 , Chunsheng Zhu  5 , Meng Bian  6
Affiliations
Review

Glycemic variability: adverse clinical outcomes and how to improve it?

Zheng Zhou et al. Cardiovasc Diabetol. .

Abstract

Glycemic variability (GV), defined as an integral component of glucose homoeostasis, is emerging as an important metric to consider when assessing glycemic control in clinical practice. Although it remains yet no consensus, accumulating evidence has suggested that GV, representing either short-term (with-day and between-day variability) or long-term GV, was associated with an increased risk of diabetic macrovascular and microvascular complications, hypoglycemia, mortality rates and other adverse clinical outcomes. In this review, we summarize the adverse clinical outcomes of GV and discuss the beneficial measures, including continuous glucose monitoring, drugs, dietary interventions and exercise training, to improve it, aiming at better addressing the challenging aspect of blood glucose management.

Keywords: Adverse clinical outcomes; Beneficial measures; Glycemic variability; Long-term glycemic variability; Short-term glycemic variability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Two principal types of GV. a Long-term GV based on visit-to-visit changes of HbA1c, FPG or PPG. b, c Short-term GV represented by within-day and between-day GV. GV, glycemic variability; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; PPG, postprandial glucose; SD, standard deviation; CV, coefficient of variation; MAGE, mean amplitude of glycemic excursions; CONGA, continuous overlapping net glycemic action; MAG, mean absolute glucose; MODD, mean of daily differences; AGP, average glucose profile; IQR, interquartile ranges; LBGI, low blood glucose index; HBGI, high blood glucose index; ADRR, average daily risk range; TIR, time in range
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The effects of glycemic variability on the adverse clinical outcomes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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MeSH terms