Health in the future: iPhone keeps diabetes in check

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On September 21, the drug company and diabetes advocate Sanofi Aventis announced the world's first iPhone/iPod-linked blood glucose meter iBGStar and free management app.

According to the World Health Organization "diabetes causes about 5% of all deaths globally each year" and "diabetes deaths are likely to increase by more than 50% in the next 10 years without urgent action."

This mHealth (mobile health) breakthrough could greatly impact the 171 million people worldwide living with diabetes. Diabetics are looking forward to a new tool that meets their daily needs.

Jen, a diabetic and VIPhone Google group member, posted on September 22, "Might be a good idea if those of us with diabetes could all drop [Sanofi-Aventis] an e-mail saying we look forward to their accompanying app being accessible with VoiceOver."

There are a number of iPhone/iPad applications to assist you in tracking your glucose levels including Glucose Tracker (€0.79), GluCoMo (free), BGluMon (€1.59), Glucose Charter (€0.79) and Glucose Buddy (free).

However Sanofi-Aventis has created the first hardware component to test glucose levels, a meter reader add-on, that seamlessly plugs into the iPhone to manage real-time data and share with health professionals.

According to the unofficial Apple blog Tuaw, "Sanofi Aventis is currently preparing the meter for submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)" and is more user-friendly than Johnson & Johnson's 2009 concept.

To learn more about the global epidemic and take part in the world's awareness initiative World Diabetes Day on November 14, go to: http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/
For more information about iBGStar, visit: http://ibgstar.com/web/ibgstar/app/app