Continuous glucose monitoring for the prediction of posttransplant diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance on day 90 after kidney transplantation—A prospective proof-of-concept study

Posttransplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) and prediabetes represent serious complications after kidney transplantation and are associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We assessed the predictive performance of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) compared with plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c in 46 kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) without known preexisting diabetes mellitus. CGM (14-day recording duration) was performed on days 8, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 180 posttransplant. Eight patients (17%) developed PTDM and nine (20%) impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), as diagnosed by oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT)–derived 2-hour plasma glucose (2hPG) or glucose-lowering therapy on day 90. CGM-readouts percent of time >140 mg/dL (%TAR (140 mg/dL)) and percent of time >180 mg/dL (%TAR (180 mg/dL)) showed excellent in-sample test characteristics regarding PTDM from day 8 onward (days 8-90 receiver operating characteristic area under the curve: 0.88-0.99) and regarding PTDM/IGT with the commencement of maintenance immunosuppression from day 30 onward (days 30-90 receiver operating characteristic area under the curve: 0.88-0.91). Exploratory CGM-%TAR (140 mg/dL)–screening thresholds of 31.8% on day 8 and 13.2% on day 30 yielded sensitivities/specificities of 88%/83% for PTDM and 94%/78% for PTDM/IGT on day 90, respectively. Although our findings need to be replicated in studies with larger sample sizes, CGM bears promising potential to facilitate clinical practice and research regarding PTDM.