Fewer ethnic minorities and boys received pump therapy in study
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 11, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Insulin pumps help improve hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) levels in children and teens with type 1 diabetes and should be made more widely available, researchers report. The study was published online Nov. 7 in Diabetologia.
Jennifer Sherr, M.D., Ph.D., of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and colleagues looked at three diabetes registries in the United States, Germany/Austria, and England/Wales that included 54,410 children and teens with type 1 diabetes. The researchers compared HbA1c levels among patients with type 1 diabetes who used either insulin pumps or insulin injections.
The team found that mean HbA1c levels were 8 percent for those using insulin pumps. For those using insulin injections, the researchers found a mean HbA1c level of 8.5 percent. The researchers also found that only 22 percent of children in ethnic minorities had pumps, compared with 34 percent of non-minority children. In addition, girls were more likely to have pumps than boys — 34 versus 30 percent.
The study authors called for further research into expanding the use of insulin pumps among young patients regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, or country.
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
