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Medtronic, IBM add AI driven low glucose warning system to Sugar.IQ app

The effort is likely to be part of a barrage of health, wellness, and AI announcements coming out of CES 2019.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor
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IBM

Medtronic and IBM's Watson Health unit outlined a tool to predict whether a diabetic person will have low glucose even within an upcoming 1- to 4-hour window.  

The feature, called IQcast, is part of the Sugar.IQ personal diabetes app, which is available on Apple's iOS platform. The tool uses IBM's artificial intelligence and Medtronics diabetes devices.

For IBM, the Medtronic collaboration is part of a broader wellness technology push leading up to CES 2019. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is giving a keynote speech revolving in part around AI. Also last month, IBM highlighted how it was combining AI and fingernail sensors to better monitor health and disease.

Medtronic has been partnering with various technology companies to layer in more analytics. Medtronic has partnerships with IBM, Apple, and Fitbit to name a few.

According to the companies, the IQcast feature analyzes various signals to assess the likelihood of a low glucose event. The Sugar.IQ app combines various metrics and tries to assess patterns as people manage diabetes including insulin injections.


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IBM noted that Type 1 diabetics face an average of 180 decisions a day to manage their blood sugar and overall condition.

The Sugar.IQ app, which launched in June, is for users of the Medtronic Guardian Connect system designed for diabetics who have to use multiple injections. The app has customized predictive alerts.

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