Insulin pump is an improvement on injections, study finds

Fri, 02 Jul 2010
A new study that compares the benefits of insulin pumps against the traditional use of insulin injections to control levels of blood sugar has found that the pump renders better for type 1 diabetes .

With children and adolescents being the most difficult age group to treat for type 1 diabetes due to physiological changes and growth, the research found that approximately 44 per cent of pediatric patients who used the sensor-augmented insulin pump achieved the control targets set by the American Diabetes Association, while only 20 per cent of patients who used daily injections reached the target goal set by the association. Those patients who were on an insulin pump had a reduction in glycated hemoglobin levels that was four-times greater than those receiving daily injections.

Richard Bergenstal, executive director of the International Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet Health Services in Minneapolis, said "Sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy is a major advancement in the treatment of many people across the age spectrum with type 1 diabetes…This data is very important because it provides strong evidence that sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy results in good glucose control with minimal hypoglycaemia ."

Francine Kaufman, chief medical officer at Medtronic Diabetes, argued that the study "redefines what should be the standard of care for diabetes management . The purpose of this study was to show the difference between the blood sugar control between the two groups, so multiple injections or the glucose sensor and pump, and to really prove to people with diabetes, the health care providers, and payers of this disease, that there is a significant benefit from using a sensor augmented pump."

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