Treatment of children with diabetes improving

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In recent years, young patients with type 1 diabetes appear to be benefiting from more intensive management than was previously the case, researchers report in The Journal of Pediatrics

"We have witnessed significant improvement in diabetes control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes over the past decade," senior investigator Dr. Lori M. B. Laffel told Reuters Health.

These improvements have occurred since the routine use by children and adolescents of frequent blood sugar monitoring, new insulin formulations, more frequent insulin injections or the use of insulin pump therapy, she added.

Laffel, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues came to this conclusion after following 299 diabetic children for 2 years. The findings for these subjects, who were enrolled in 1997, were then compared with those for another 152 children who were enrolled in 2002 and also followed for 2 years.

As well as improved control of blood sugar levels, children in the more recent group were almost 50 percent less likely than those in the earlier group to experience severe dips in blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia. In addition, the former group had 25 percent fewer emergency room visits.

Although a trial conducted in the 1990s indicated that the use of intensive insulin therapy was associated with significant weight gain, said Laffel, "there has been no excessive weight gain in association with these newer treatment approaches."

"We are encouraged by these improvements, although we need to continue to find new and improved ways to normalize the blood sugars," she added.

SOURCE: The Journal of Pediatrics, March 2007.