Background: Insulin pumps have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional forms of insulin therapy for patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Despite the increasing prevalence of insulin pumps, the safety of their use in hospitalized patients has not been well studied. In this study, we aim to determine the incidence of hypoglycemia in hospitalized patients using insulin pumps within 24 hours of admission prior to any adjustments of their insulin pump settings.
Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of adult patients with diabetes (type 1 and 2) who used insulin pumps during the first 24 hours of admission to NYU Winthrop Hospital and did not make any adjustments to the pump settings during that time. Patients <18 years of age, pregnant patients and those who were electively admitted for surgery were excluded from this study. Demographic data and clinical data were collected, which included the presence of steroid use, total daily dose of basal insulin, creatinine level, HbA1c level, and serum and capillary blood glucose values. Hypoglycemia was defined as blood glucose <70mg/dL and severe hypoglycemia was defined as blood glucose <40mg/dL.
Results: Two hundred and fifty-seven patients were included in the study. The mean age was 56 years, 152 (59%) patients were male, and 130 (55%) had type 1 diabetes. The mean hemoglobin A1c was 7.9%. A total of 2097 finger stick blood glucose values were obtained, and 1290 (62%) were <180 mg/dL. There were 88 episodes of hypoglycemia (4.1% of all finger stick blood glucose values) and 2 episodes of severe hypoglycemia (0.1% of all finger stick blood glucose values).
Conclusion: Insulin pumps are safe and effective for the treatment of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the first 24 hours of hospital admission.
A. Halstrom: None. I. Moledina: None. V. Peragallo-Dittko: None. K. Ancona: None. S. Islam: None. G. Rothberger: None. S.P. Klek: None.
