Diabetes mellitus is normally considered a scuba-diving contraindication even if this is currently being reconsidered for well-controlled diabetes.
This project, coordinated by DANEU and carried out with BURC and DANSA, aimed at developing a real time continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to check and record glycaemia value and trend during diving. This is to be used for prospective studies but especially to increase diabetic divers safety by the ability to control glycaemia levels in real time thus preventing hypoglycaemia.
Diabetic volunteer divers involved in the stury received specific training about the CGM device, the correct insertion of the subcutaneous sensor in the abdominal region and the CGM calibration with capillary blood glucometer (CBG).
In our preliminary investigation all divers showed a gradual decrease in CBG during diving. Occasional low CBG values were observed during diving (+/-70mg/dl) yet without any hypoglycaemia symptoms.
We believe that CGM measurement during diving can be very helpful for diabetic divers even if further investigation is need to confirm the accuracy of the technique. Real time CGM system used by diabetic divers during diving can provide immediate information on CBG values and trend, with a significant increase in diving safety and with an increase of sport medicine knowledge and interest in this specific field.
