Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life-threatening condition that requires hospitalization in children with type 1 diabetes. Many reports have indicated that low-dose insulin therapy is quite effective regardless of the route of administration, whether, intramuscular, or subcutaneous.

Aim of the work: The aim of this study was to look for technical simplification and economic efficiency in the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) with subcutaneous use of the rapid-acting insulin analog and compare its use with regular intravenous insulin treatment.

A total of 80 consecutive patients admitted with DKA were randomly classified into 4 groups: Group 1: Patients with DKA on regular insulin by infusion pump, (infusion pump, n=20), group 2: Patients with DKA on subcutaneous rapid onset of action-aspart insulin analog (Novolog; Novo Nordisk) / 2 hrs, sc-2 hr, n=20), group 3: Patients with DKA on subcutaneous rapid onset of action-aspart insulin analog (Novolog; Novo Nordisk) / 1 hrs, (sc-1 hr, n=20), and group 4: Patients with DKA on rapid insulin analog by continues subcutaneous insulin pump (CSII, n=20).

Results: The results of this study showed that there was no statistical difference between the 4 groups as regarding age in years, blood glucose in mg/dl before the starting of management of DKA, pH, serum HCO3, serum K, anion gap, urine acetone and time needed for resolution of DKA by hours.

Conclusion: It could be concluded that management of any patient with mild to moderate DKA with good tissue perfusion can be treated with subcutaneous rapid insulin analog every 1 or 2 hours or to be treated by continuous insulin infusion pumps, if available with same results as giving regular insulin by intravenous infusion pumps.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), Insulin analog and continues subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII).

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.