Optimizing Glycemic Outcomes for Minoritized and Medically Underserved Adults Living with Type 1 Diabetes

KEY POINTS

• The American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee recommends that continuous glucose monitoring and automated insulin delivery systems be offered to adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) who can use the devices safely.
• Individuals living with T1D from minoritized and lower income communities have poorer health outcomes and lower use of diabetes technologies. Some of the reasons for the disparities include limited health literacy, barriers to access to care, inadequate health insurance coverage, provider implicit bias, and broad exclusion from many of the trials evaluating diabetes technologies.
• Educational and specialty referral initiatives can be effective in overcoming clinical inertia and increasing the use of advanced technologies.
• Social risk factors and barriers that can compete with diabetes self-care need to be considered in the formulation of treatment plans and collaborative goal setting.
• Advanced diabetes technologies can be successfully introduced in adult medically underserved populations living with T1D.