Type 1 Diabetes: What Your Glucose Data Is Worth to Research
6 Nov 2026 · 4 min read · CureCircle Research
Every figure in this guide comes from a published source, linked where it appears and kept in CureCircle's evidence base with the source's own words. It is not medical advice. Read on 6 November 2026.
If you live with type 1 diabetes, you probably generate more health data than almost anyone: a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) records your glucose every few minutes, around the clock, and your insulin, meals and activity sit beside it. Research on type 1 diabetes, from better insulin dosing to the algorithms behind automated insulin delivery, runs on exactly this kind of data. Most of it sits in an app and is never used again.
How many people live with it
A modelling study in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology estimated that in 2021 there were about 8.4 million individuals worldwide with type 1 diabetes, and that in that year there were 0.5 million new cases diagnosed, with a median age of onset of 39 years. Type 1 diabetes is often thought of as a childhood condition, but most new diagnoses are in adults.
The records people with type 1 diabetes usually have
NICE's guideline for adults with type 1 diabetes sets out the care that produces most of the records:
- A glucose sensor. NICE recommends that you offer adults with type 1 diabetes a choice of real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM) or intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring ("flash"). Worn continuously, it builds a record of every day.
- HbA1c, the three-month average of your glucose, every 3 to 6 months. Over a few years that is a series of results that shows how your control changed.
- Kidney tests (eGFR and urine albumin:creatinine ratio) annually, with a cardiovascular risk assessment.
- An annual review of self-care and needs, usually with a letter or summary.
What studies pay for glucose data
There is no open market price for a day of someone's CGM data yet, but research studies publish what they pay participants for it, in their consent forms:
- A type 1 diabetes study at the Joslin Diabetes Center pays $75 for each CGM data collection, 14 days of wear every three months: about $5.36 a day.
- A study using CGM in pregnancy pays $1.50 for every day you wore the sensor with glucose values.
Those are payments for taking part in a study, where you wear a sensor because the study asks you to. They show what research is willing to pay for a day of glucose data, and they are the basis CureCircle's benchmark uses for a day of glucose sensor data: about $3.43 a day, the middle of those two rates, with each extra day counted at a slightly lower rate, because more of the same kind of data is worth a little less per unit.
What sharing it is worth
On the benchmark, a complete type 1 diabetes story with a year of the records the guideline lists comes to about $92 per licence. Adding the sensor data you already have changes that substantially:
| What you share | Value per licence, on the benchmark |
|---|---|
| Your story, a letter, a year of HbA1c results | about $92 |
| The same, with 90 days of CGM data | about $458 |
| The same, with a year of CGM data | about $1,236 |
These are benchmark values, not offers: they are built from what studies paid per day of data and what patient records have sold for, and you are paid a share each time a licence actually includes your data. You can change the numbers to what you have on the valuation page and see the source behind every line. The full method is on how we value health data.
The reason the value rises so steeply is the same reason research wants it: glucose data from the same person over months, linked to their own account of what they changed and what happened, is rare. Studies pay to collect it a couple of weeks at a time. You may already have years of it.
What research can learn from your story
Sensor data shows what your glucose did. It cannot show why. The part only you can add is the context: when you were diagnosed and how, which insulin regimens and devices you have used, what you tried for hypoglycaemia or for exercise, and what made the biggest difference. A structured account of that, with every treatment rated by you, turns a glucose trace into something research can learn from.
How to share it
On CureCircle, you start by writing what you live with in your own words; a few quick questions follow, then an AI interviewer asks about the details only you know. You can add records as PDFs or photos (lab results, letters, a clinic summary), and the AI reads them into your own medical file. Before anything is shared, you read the de-identified summary and decide, and you can withdraw at any time.
If you do not have your HbA1c history or letters, ask your clinic for a copy. Then start your story, or read what your health data is worth first.