Cited by 327Diabetes Management and ResearchDiabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and LipoproteinsPancreatic function and diabetes

Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation

Open access
Hall, Heather, Perelman, Dalia, Breschi, Alessandra, Limcaoco, Patricia, Kellogg, Ryan, McLaughlin, Tracey, Snyder, Michael·2018·PLOS Biology

Abstract

Diabetes is an increasing problem worldwide; almost 30 million people, nearly 10% of the population, in the United States are diagnosed with diabetes. Another 84 million are prediabetic, and without intervention, up to 70% of these individuals may progress to type 2 diabetes. Current methods for quantifying blood glucose dysregulation in diabetes and prediabetes are limited by reliance on single-time-point measurements or on average measures of overall glycemia and neglect glucose dynamics. We have used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to evaluate the frequency with which individuals demonstrate elevations in postprandial glucose, the types of patterns, and how patterns vary between individuals given an identical nutrient challenge. Measurement of insulin resistance and secretion highlights the fact that the physiology underlying dysglycemia is highly variable between individuals. We developed an analytical framework that can group individuals according to specific patterns of glycemic responses called "glucotypes" that reveal heterogeneity, or subphenotypes, within traditional diagnostic categories of glucose regulation. Importantly, we found that even individuals considered normoglycemic by standard measures exhibit high glucose variability using CGM, with glucose levels reaching prediabetic and diabetic ranges 15% and 2% of the time, respectively. We thus show that glucose dysregulation, as characterized by CGM, is more prevalent and heterogeneous than previously thought and can affect individuals considered normoglycemic by standard measures, and specific patterns of glycemic responses reflect variable underlying physiology. The interindividual variability in glycemic responses to standardized meals also highlights the personal nature of glucose regulation. Through extensive phenotyping, we developed a model for identifying potential mechanisms of personal glucose dysregulation and built a webtool for visualizing a user-uploaded CGM profile and classifying individualized glucose patterns into glucotypes.

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  • Examination of users' time-in-range compared to their weight led to observation of several individuals who self-reported as "healthy" but exhibited lower TIR, which is typically more characteristic of individuals with prediabetes or T2D.

    “Examination of users’ time-in-range compared to their weight led to observation of several individuals who self-reported as “healthy” but nonetheless exhibit lower TIR, which is typically more characteristic of individuals with prediabetes or T2D; a feature noted previously19.”
  • The results align with existing literature emphasizing the clinical benefits of higher TIR, including reduced complications and improved overall health outcomes for individuals with diabetes.

    “These results align with existing literature that emphasizes the clinical benefits of higher TIR, including reduced complications and improved overall health outcomes for individuals with diabetes19,22–24.”

    From Impact of digital health interventions on glycemic control and weight management. (2025) · cites this paper as [19]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) discusses glycemic variability, postprandial glucose peaks, and cardiovascular risk, but does not address whether higher time in range (TIR) reduces complications or improves overall health outcomes in people with diabetes. Searches for TIR, time in range, complications, and health outcomes found no passage establishing the attributed relationship. (LLM, conf=0.72)

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  • The magnitude of improvements observed, particularly in TIR and weight loss metrics, aligns with outcomes from controlled studies of similar digital health interventions.

    “the magnitude of improvements observed, particularly in TIR and weight loss metrics, align with outcomes from controlled studies of similar digital health interventions19.”

    From Impact of digital health interventions on glycemic control and weight management. (2025) · cites this paper as [19]

    The Methods describe glucose monitoring during a period of stable lifestyle, not a controlled digital-health intervention. The Introduction reports improved postmeal glucose responses from a separate personalized-nutrition study, but our copy provides no TIR or weight-loss outcomes to compare with the magnitude claimed (searched: TIR, time in range, weight loss, intervention). (LLM, conf=0.78)

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1 of the 45 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [1]American Diabetes Association. American Diabetes Association Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2017. Diabetes Care—The Journal of Clinical and Applied Research and Education. 2016; 40 (Supplement 1) p. 1– 142.
  2. [35]Giorgino T, et al Computing and visualizing dynamic time warping alignments in R: the dtw package. Journal of statistical Software. 2009; 31(7): 1– 24.

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Authors
Hall, H., Perelman, D., Breschi, A., Limcaoco, P., Kellogg, R., McLaughlin, T., & Snyder, M.
Affiliations
  • Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
Corresponding author
Snyder, Michael
Venue
PLOS Biology
Published
2018-07-24
Volume
16
Issue
7
Pages
e2005143
ISSN
  • 1544-9173 (ISSN-L)
  • 1545-7885
OpenAlex
W2883478711
Cited by
326
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 52 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 4
FWCI
19.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK110186, U54DK102556, P30DK116074)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Pancreatic function and diabetes
Keywords
glucose dysregulation, continuous glucose monitoring, glycemic variability, postprandial blood glucose, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, insulin secretion, individual heterogeneity
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Homeostasis, Humans, Hyperglycemia, Insulin, Male, Middle Aged, Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring, Cohort Studies, Internet, Carbohydrate Metabolism, Meals

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