Insulin Pumps Better Than Shots for Diabetes Control: Study

July 5, 2014  15:28

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, NewsMax Health says.

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.

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.

By the end of the study, patients in the pump group required a 20 percent lower daily dose of insulin than those in the injection group. 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.

The devices may also provide improved convenience, reducing the burden of dose tracking and scheduling, and decreasing insulin injection omissions.

Insulin pumps may be the future of diabetes care, but hurdles remain. Because of insurance-related "inhibitors in our health care system," use of the devices "has not become common practice in the U.S.

However, the future is bright -- pump and continuous monitor use is increasing, which should mean a reduction in price. All of the effort is to improve quality of life, productivity and reduce the risk for complications.

 

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