Continuous blood glucose monitoring safe for pilots with diabetes

(Image: Pixabay CC0) In recent years, permanent glucose measurement from tissue fluid has become established, especially for type 1 diabetics who are constantly dependent on insulin to control their blood glucose. According to the latest study by an Austrian-British-Irish research team, such a system is also safe for professional pilots . Experts led by David Russel-Jones, an endocrinologist at the University of Surrey, with co-authors from Ireland and Austria (from Austrocontrol and the Clinical Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at Med Uni Graz) have addressed a particularly important issue for some commercial pilots: controlling blood glucose levels in the event of diabetes. "Currently, only three countries in Europe - Great Britain, Austria and Ireland - give pilots with diabetes a full professional license in commercial aviation," the British university wrote in a press release last spring. Care for diabetics greatly improved. The restrictions are understandable in that diabetics can slip into an episode of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) by taking too much insulin compared to their intake of carbohydrates. This can result in confusion or even fainting.