In the United States, an estimated 23.6 million people have been diagnosed, with a total annual cost of $174 billion in 2007, of which $116 billion was for medical expenditures. Patients with this chronic disease face frequent use of invasive methods to monitor their blood glucose levels. Commercial availability of a non-invasive sensor that can provide skin surface measurements to allow continuous monitoring of glucose levels would help patients to monitor more often and reliably, thus improving quality of life while reducing treatment costs.
Although much research has been performed towards this goal, many challenges remain. The confounding factors associated with this type of skin-surface measurement include temperature (body and environmental), perspiration, skin moisture, changes in skin thickness, and body movement. BioSensors, Inc. is developing an innovative SEMP technique that will address these factors and allow for accurate differentiation of glucose levels from a non-invasive skin-surface measurement.