Insulin Pump Therapy Improves Diabetic Control in Young People Nov. 5, 1999 (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) -- Teen-age diabetics who use insulin pumps were able to reduce their risk of severe low blood sugar by 50% while maintaining better control of their diabetes than youths on multiple daily injections (MDI) of insulin, according to a study in the November journal Diabetes Care.

Insulin pumps are worn next to the skin, and deliver a programmable dose of fast-acting insulin through a small plastic tube, or catheter, which is placed just under the skin. In addition, extra insulin can be given based on blood sugar level results. They are about the size of a pack of cards and are battery-powered. Newer pumps are easy to use and reliable, allow better control of blood sugar, and remove much of the hassle associated with multiple insulin injections.

"The young people in our study who chose to go on insulin pump therapy achieved and maintained nearly normal [blood sugar] control and had 50% fewer severe hypoglycemic [low blood sugar] episodes than a group of similar adolescents using MDI," lead researcher Elizabeth A. Boland, a diabetes educator at Yale University School of Medicine, tells WebMD.

The study involved 75 youngsters on insulin pumps, ages 12-20, from the Yale Children's Diabetes Clinic, who completed the 12-month study. Fifty volunteers used MDI. All participants received intensive educational and motivational guidance on monitoring and controlling their diabetes.

HbA_1C levels indicate how well the blood sugar has been controlled over the past several weeks. Lower levels indicate improved control. Average HbA_1C levels in the insulin pump group decreased from 8.4% at the beginning of the study to 7.5%at the end of 12 months, a significant drop. Boland says the youngsters on pump therapy also needed "significantly less insulin" than those using MDI.

"These results show that pump therapy is a much more attractive alternative than MDI for the intensive management of type 1 diabetes," says Boland.

Philip Levy, MD, agrees. He says insulin pumping is enjoying new popularity among adults and adolescents alike. Reasons for that popularity, he believes, include the publicity given the technique by Nicole Johnson, the 1999 winner of the Miss America contest, and the fact that insulin infusion pumps have become smaller and easier to use. Levy is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Arizona School of Medicine in Tucson and chairman of the endocrinology department at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix.