(July 21, 2010 - Insidermedicine)

According to research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, sensor-augmented pump therapy lowers blood sugar much more effectively than multiple daily insulin injections, and is equally safe.

Here are some important facts about glucose control and diabetes:

- High glucose levels can cause small blood vessels in the body to become narrow, causing microvascular changes in the eye and kidney.

- High sugars over a prolonged period of time can raise the chances of narrowing and occlusion of larger blood vessels and may predispose to stroke and heart attack.

- Achieving low blood sugars has been proven to lower one's chance of devleoping microvascular complications like diabetic retinopathy, and may reverse changes in those who already have these findings.

Researchers located at the International Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet, performed a study in which type 1 diabetics had an equal chance of receiving either multiple injections of insulin, or a sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy. These pumps continuously monitor blood glucose and are also linked to an insulin pump that can infuse tiny doses of insulin into the blood stream when needed.  To perform their study, the researchers randomized nearly 500 patient and followed them for 1 year to determine which method resulted in a lower average blood sugar.  Many of these patients were children or youths with diabetes.

The results showed that the sensor-augmented pump therapy resulted in much better blood control; those who received it had a 10% reduction in their blood sugar, whereas those who received traditional injections only had 2.4% drop in their blood sugar levels. In addition, while there is a theoretically higher rate of hypoglycemic events with very tight blood sugar levels, no differences in very low sugar levels were seen between the 2 groups.

Todays research demonstrates how emerging technology that incorporates continuous blood sugar monitoring to insulin pump technology can result in superior blood sugar control.  This technology will likely play an increasingly important role in treating both young and elderly patients with diabetes.