#247 Defining Diabetes: Standard Deviation
Scott Benner
Defining Diabetes: Standard Deviation
Scott and Jenny Smith, CDE define the terms at the center of your type 1 diabetes care
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
In this episode of defining diabetes, Jenny Smith and I are going to define standard deviation. Defining diabetes is made possible by Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise the Always consult a physician before becoming bold with insulin or making any changes to your medical plan. What is standard deviation?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 0:27
Overall, it's it's the calculated amount of time a variance or deviation for a group of numbers as a whole. I mean, if you really want like the true definition of standard deviation,
Scott Benner 0:43
it's a mathematical term, right?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 0:44
It's statistics. It's a mathematical statistical term. So that we can actually measure quantify essentially the amount of dispersion in a set of values. And for an easy way to describe it with diabetes specifically, and if you're looking at your CGM report, thankfully, clarity is wonderful. It's got standard deviation right next to your overall average or your your average ghost standard deviation, the lower the value, the less variance you have low to high numbers. So if you have a standard deviation of 20, you should have glucose values that look like these little gentle rolling hills up and down. If you have a standard deviation of 73, you will have a lot of math variants that looks like you are on a roller coaster at Six Flags
Scott Benner 1:42
is this goal is standard deviation when it comes to diabetes attached to the gold numbers. So here's what I kind of learned. And if I'm wrong, then I tricked myself. And I'm wondering if I set my my I don't know low goal at 70. And my high goal at 120. But I frequently go up to 150, that makes my standard deviation look higher.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:11
Correct. Because your upper, your upper value is going up even though it's going above your target, right, you're still getting above it. Now, if you so it's giving more variance is starting at 70, you're going up to 150, you're coming back to 100, you're going back up to 150, your standard deviation is going to be higher with the same target as if you stayed 70 to 120 and down to 100 and back up to 110 and back down to 70. Your standard deviations give me a lower
Scott Benner 2:41
new it. Okay. So that means that if I'm person who gives myself this really tight goal of being between 80 and 120 all the time, but my reality is I'm more between 70 and 140, my standard deviation could at first glance look bad. I could but it technically wouldn't be because I'm still only deviating between 70 and 140. Okay, so that's just something it's probably not going to come up for a lot of people but that flummoxed me for a while I was like, how am I keeping my daughter's blood sugar so stable and my deviation looks bad? Yes, because my goals, the numbers that the app was using to make the decisions were so tight, that even a tiny bit above or below it made it look way out of whack?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:27
Well, and it's also specific to those values, you know, even if you had your targets that, um, you know, 80 to 80 to 150, let's say. But if you had 80 to 150, and then all the way back down to 80, and back up to 150. And all the way down to an 80, you may have a lot of time in range, you're still going to have a higher standard deviation, because it looks like a roller from a lower value to a higher value to a lower value. So again, it's the dispersion of the data points, right, it's a variance between the lower number to the higher number. So even with that still 80 to 150 as a target. Let's say she's going from 80 to 110, back down to 80. Back up to 90. That looks like those gentle rolls and the number the value change isn't as great. So the standard deviation is going to be lower. And she's still going to have good amount of time in range there, but her standard deviation will be lower because there's not as much change between the low to high value and for
Scott Benner 4:29
your health even if it's between 80 and 140. You do not want to be bouncing up and down bouncing Oh,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:35
not standard AV is one you definitely don't want the bounce. You want more gentle roll.
Scott Benner 4:40
So if we have standard deviation down and we have time and range down ra one c should reflect that. Gotcha.
Defining diabetes on the Juicebox Podcast. Cast is brought to you by Dexcom on the pod and dancing for diabetes, there are links in the show notes and Juicebox podcast.com to all the wonderful sponsors. But if you want to find out more about getting a free no obligation demos the Omni pod, you can go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box to get started on the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor dexcom.com forward slash juice box and to learn about the good that's being done at dancing for diabetes, go to dancing the number four diabetes.com Thanks for checking out defining diabetes. Come back every Friday is Jenny and I break down a new word or phrase that is impacting your life with Type One Diabetes. Those of you on social media can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. And of course the podcast is available in every podcast player you can imagine and at Juicebox podcast.com. please consider sharing the show with a friend more even though enemy. I mean if they have type one diabetes, and you don't like them, they still deserve good blood sugars. Hey, one last thing I want to thank you the podcast continues to grow exponentially in downloads and subscribers month after month. Right now it's the middle of July in the podcast already has more downloads in July of 2019 than it had just three months ago, in the entire month of April. And let me tell you something. There were a lot of downloads in April. You are growing a community and teaching people how to be healthier.
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