Insulin Pumps vs. Daily Injections for Type 2
6-month blood sugar control was better with the devices compared to needles, researchers say
WEDNESDAY, July 2, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Insulin pumps provide better blood sugar control for adults with diabetes than multiple daily insulin injections, a new study says.
Insulin pumps are small devices that are worn by patients and deliver constant amounts of insulin to the body through a catheter placed under the skin.
The multicenter, international study was funded by medical device maker Medtronic and included 331 people aged 30 to 75. All of the patients had poorly controlled type 2 diabetes and were using multiple daily injections of insulin to control their blood sugar levels.
The patients were randomly assigned to either continue using injections or to switch to an insulin pump.
After six months, patients who used the insulin pumps had a much greater reduction in average blood sugar levels than those who used injections, the study found. According to the researchers, twice as many patients in the pump group reached the blood sugar control target range (55 percent vs. 28 percent).
According to the study, the amount of time people spent with extremely low blood sugar remained similarly low in both the pump and injection groups.
"Our findings open up a valuable new treatment option for those individuals [who are] failing on current injection regimens," study author Yves Reznik, from the University of Caen Cote de Nacre Regional Hospital Center in France, said in a journal news release. He believes that the devices "may also provide improved convenience, reducing the burden of dose tracking and scheduling, and decreasing insulin injection omissions."
Two experts in the United States weren't surprised by the findings.
"Many people with type 2 diabetes work hard to maximize the benefit of multiple daily injections of insulin but still struggle to keep their blood glucose values in target range," said Virginia Peragallo-Dittko, executive director of the Diabetes and Obesity Institute at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.