Endocrine Abstracts

Background: There are very few studies comparing glycaemic control in patients with different basal rates on Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion therapy (CSII), so the ideal number of basal rates for a patient is not clear.

Objective: To compare the glycaemic control between patients with different basal rates.

Methods: Data were collected from hospital’s database and by contacting patients via phone.

Results: 75 patients were evaluated. 46 (61.3%) were female; all had type-1 DM except for two (one had type-2 DM and the other had DM after pancreatic disease). Patients were divided in two groups based on those using <5 basal rates and on ≥5 basal rates over 24 h. There were 33 patients in the group on <5 basal rates, 63% were female. Mean age was 42.7±10.3 (mean±S.D.) years with BMI of 25.9±3.4 kg/m². Duration of DM was 19.3±11.0 years and on CSII for 5.5 years±3.4 years. 30% patients had impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia, 51.5% used temporary (basal) rates and 72.7% used bolus calculator. There were 42 patients in the group on ≥5 basal rates, 54.5% were female. Mean age was 38.7±9.3 years with BMI of 25.9±4.6 kg/m². Duration of DM was 19.3±9.5 years and of CSII was 4.9±2.9 years. 27.2% patients had impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia. 63.2% used temporary (basal) rates and 63.6% used bolus calculator. In both groups, similar number of patients (69.6%) experienced at least one episode of hypoglycaemia on average per week. Mean HbA1c in those on <5 basal rates was 7.8±0.8% (61.7±9 mmol/mol) vs 8.08±0.7% (64.8±7.7 mmol/mol) in those on ≥5 basal rates-P value=0.16.

Conclusion: In our study there was no difference in glycaemic control between the patients on fewer (<5) or more (≥5) basal rates. The characteristics of both groups were similar so advice on the optimal number of basal rates for a patient appears to vary from individual to individual.