Posted on 08/21/2013 8:35:55 PM PDT by neverdem
Over a median of 3.5 years, the devices worked better at controlling blood sugar, researchers say
Devices called insulin pumps may work better at controlling blood sugar in children with type 1 diabetes than insulin injections, a new study finds.
They might also cause fewer complications, the Australian researchers said.
"This is the largest study of insulin-pump use in children," wrote a team led by Dr. Elizabeth Davis of the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth. "It also has the longest follow-up period of any study of insulin-pump therapy in children. Our data confirm that insulin-pump therapy provides an improvement in glycemic control, which is sustained for at least seven years."
The study was published Aug. 18 in the journal Diabetologia.
Davis's team compared outcomes for 345 children, aged 2 to 19, who were using insulin pumps to control their type 1 diabetes to a similar number of children who were receiving insulin injections.
The children were followed for a median of three and a half years.
During the follow-up period, episodes of dangerously low blood sugar levels (severe hypoglycemia) in the insulin-pump group fell by about half, the researchers said. In contrast, episodes of severe hypoglycemia in the insulin-injection group rose, from about seven events per 100 patients per year to more than 10 events by the end of the study.
The researchers also looked at rates of hospital admission for diabetic ketoacidosis, a shortage of insulin that causes the body to switch to burning fats and to produce acidic ketone molecules that cause complications and symptoms. This a frequent complication in children with type 1 diabetes.
Admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis were lower in the insulin-pump group than in the insulin-injection group -- 2.3 and 4.7 per 100 patients per year, respectively, according to the study...
(Excerpt) Read more at health.usnews.com ...
Of course it is. The younger the kid is, the more their blood sugar goes crazy. I got my type 1 at 24 so mine is pretty stable and easy to control even with injections.
It ain’t necessarily so.
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