Willful blindness
Yesterday OneDrop issued a press release entitled;
“Dramatic A1c Improvement Among People with Diabetes Using One Drop | Mobile app on iPhone and Apple Watch”
The release included the following passage;
“The latest published results come from 256 people with diabetes who had tracked at least two A1c values in the app (from 2 to 12 months apart), had their diabetes diagnoses verified with medications entered in the app, and had an average blood glucose consistent with their self-reported A1c values. Of the 65 people with type 1 diabetes and 191 people with type 2 diabetes, 23% were female, diagnosed with diabetes for a mean 8.3 years, and tracked an average 2176 self-care activities in the app between A1c values. Self-reported A1c can be as accurate as laboratory A1c [3], and self-reported A1c was significantly associated with 90-day average blood glucose and consistent with cohort studies testing the relationship between blood glucose and laboratory A1c [4].”
Once again OneDrop is using self-reported data but this time around they are taking bullshit to a new level. This claim that self-reported A1c can be as accurate as laboratory A1c is flat out false. Diabetic Investor has reached out to several well-respected diabetes researchers to see if there was any way this could be true, that self-reported could be as accurate as a lab test and as we suspected no way no how.
Check out this passage from the study referenced in the press release;
3. Kumar S, Uppal J, Osborn CY, Heyman M, Juusola J. The accuracy of self-reported A1c among individuals with type 2 diabetes. 2017. Diabetes Abstract Book, vol 67 (Suppl 1).
“A total of 127 participants completed baseline and 12-week A1c data. To correct for missingness, multiple imputation with predictive mean matching generated 13 imputed datasets. According to a pooled unadjusted and adjusted repeated measures model (adjusted for age, sex, race, education, years since diabetes diagnosis, insulin use, and BMI with robust standard errors), A1c improved by -0.8% (p<0.001 for unadjusted and adjusted) from baseline to 12 weeks.”
Allow us to emphasize “To correct for missingness, multiple imputation with predictive mean matching generated 13 imputed datasets.” Ok now we may not be math majors nor are we experts on data manipulation but one thing we know for certain is that none of this would matter had OneDrop performed a simple blood test.There would be no need to question any of their data or conclusions had they done the right thing and had these supposed results independently verified.
What’s amazing here is that OneDrop continues to get a pass as no one, no one expect for Diabetic Investor will call them out and publicly say what everyone else is saying privately. That self-reported data of any kind is crap and no conclusions should be drawn from self-reported non-independently verified data. Our question is why the silence? Why hasn’t the community called out OneDrop?
Yesterday the media world was stunned by the firing of NBC news personality Matt Lauer for sexual harassment. According to numerous reports and a two-month investigation by Variety this conduct was well known within the NBC family. Which begs the question why since this behavior seems to be have been known did these people not speak out. Why was Mr. Lauer allowed to continue in his position?
Although what OneDrop is doing is not as despicable as Mr. Lauer’s behavior, it is despicable none the less as it disrespects every legitimate clinical study ever done.
We just don’t understand why if this system is so damn good that OneDrop does not do a REAL study with INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED DATA. Nor do we understand why the diabetes community by their silence is condoning even endorsing this behavior. As we have said from the start IF THIS SYSTEM IS AS GOOD AS ONEDROP CLIAMS IT WILL STAND UP TO THE RIGORS OF A REAL CLINICAL TRIAL WHICH HAS INDEPEDNENTLY VERIFIED DATA.
To us this just another example of willful blindness. This is no different than the Tandem (NASDAQ: TNDM) Board of Directors doing nothing while management ran this company into the ground. And just like the diabetes community is giving OneDrop a pass for their shenanigans, they are doing the same with Tandem. Just as these people fail to hold OneDrop accountable they are failing to hold Tandem management or the board accountable.
The sad part of all this is that it doesn’t have to be this way. OneDrop could if they wanted to do a real clinical trial which has independently verified data. Yet for reasons we fail to see and no one else seems to care about OneDrop can pass off cubic zirconium as if it’s a real diamond.
Well Diabetic Investor will not sit ideally by while any company fails to live up to the minimum standards. We will not endorse any study supported by self-reported data. We will not allow this fraud to be perpetrated on the public. We will go a step further and allow our subscribers to share this post with anyone, to post it on Facebook on Twitter anywhere you please. OneDrop must be held accountable and given their fondness from bragging on social media we can’t think of a better way to hold them accountable.
It’s time this con be exposed for what it really is.
