Continuous glucose monitoring reduces pubertal hyperglycemia of type 1 diabetes

Virtual insulin pump initiation is safe effective in children adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Objective

There is no head-to-head comparison of the safety and efficacy of virtual versus in-office insulin pump initiation for youth with type 1 diabetes in the US. The study's aim was to determine the safety and efficacy of virtual versus in-office pump initiation in pediatric type 1 diabetes.

Research design and methods

A longitudinal retrospective study of 112 subjects: 65% (n=73), ages 11.2 ± 3.8 years(y), received in-office training; and 35% (n=39), ages 12.0 ± 4.0y, received virtual training. The number of White subjects was 40 (55%) in the in-office group, and 25 (66%) in the remote group; while Black subjects were 11 (15%) in the in-office group and 4 (10%) in the virtual group. Data were collected at pump initiation, 3 and 6 months.

Results

There were no significant differences in sex, race, height, weight, BMI, and the duration of diabetes between the groups at baseline. There was no significant difference in A1c between the groups at 0, 3, and 6 months. A1c correlated significantly with the glucose management indicator at 0, 3, and 6 months: baseline: r=0.49, p<0.0001; 3 months: r=0.77, p<0.0001; and 6 months: r=0.71, p<0.0001. There was no relationship between A1c or TIR and pubertal status, BMI, sex, or race. A1c was significantly elevated in the non-White individuals at 6 months only: 57.9 mmol/mol (50.8-69.4) versus 51.9 mmol/mol (46.5-59.6)], p=0.007.

Conclusion

Virtual insulin pump initiation is safe and effective in children with type 1 diabetes. This approach could accelerate the adoption of the use of diabetes technology in minority populations in the US.

Temporal Trends for Diabetes Management and Glycemic Control Between 2010 and 2019 in Korean Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Purpose: There is increasing use of modern devices in the management of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We investigated temporal trends for diabetes management and outcomes in Korean pediatric T1D patients over 10 years. Methods: We retrospectively collected the data from 752 participants (boys: 311, 41.4%) diagnosed with T1D and aged ≤18 years, with ≥1 year of follow-up between 2010 and 2019 in any of the seven study hospitals in Korea. Results: Over the 10-year study period, use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) increased from 1.4% to 39.3%. From 2010 to 2019, there was an increased use of multiple daily insulin injections (MDI; 63.9%-77.0%, respectively) and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII; 2.1%-14.0%, respectively), but decreased use of conventional insulin therapy (CIT, 33.9%-9.0%, respectively). Mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) decreased from 8.56% to 8.01% (P < 0.001) and was lower in younger patients, boys, and CGM users (P < 0.001). MDI and CSII users had lower mean HbA1c levels than CIT users (P = 0.003). Regarding the acute complications of T1D, CGM use was associated with lower incidences of diabetic ketoacidosis (P = 0.015); CSII users were likely to experience less severe hypoglycemia (P = 0.008). Conclusions: The use of CSII and CGM increased ∼7- and 30-fold, respectively, over the 10-year study period. The glycemic control of pediatric T1D patients in Korea improved from 2010 to 2019, probably because of increased use of T1D technologies.

Technological Ecological Momentary Assessment Tools to Study Type 1 Diabetes in Youth: Viewpoint of Methodologies

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases, and its prevalence is rapidly increasing. The management of glucose in T1D is challenging, as youth must consider a myriad of factors when making diabetes care decisions. This task often leads to significant hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, and glucose variability throughout the day, which have been associated with short- and long-term medical complications. At present, most of what is known about each of these complications and the health behaviors that may lead to them have been uncovered in the clinical setting or in laboratory-based research. However, the tools often used in these settings are limited in their ability to capture the dynamic behaviors, feelings, and physiological changes associated with T1D that fluctuate from moment to moment throughout the day. A better understanding of T1D in daily life could potentially aid in the development of interventions to improve diabetes care and mitigate the negative medical consequences associated with it. Therefore, there is a need to measure repeated, real-time, and real-world features of this disease in youth. This approach is known as ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and it has considerable advantages to in-lab research. Thus, this viewpoint aims to describe EMA tools that have been used to collect data in the daily lives of youth with T1D and discuss studies that explored the nuances of T1D in daily life using these methods. This viewpoint focuses on the following EMA methods: continuous glucose monitoring, actigraphy, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, personal digital assistants, smartphones, and phone-based systems. The viewpoint also discusses the benefits of using EMA methods to collect important data that might not otherwise be collected in the laboratory and the limitations of each tool, future directions of the field, and possible clinical implications for their use.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes: No Significant Change in Glycemic Control During The Pandemic Lockdown of 2020

IMPORTANCE

There is no consensus on the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on glycemic control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the US.

AIM

To determine the impact of the pandemic lockdown of March 15th through July 6^th, 2020 on glycemic control after controlling for confounders.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

An observational study of 110 subjects of mean age 14.8 ± 4.9 years(y), [male 15.4 ± 4.0y, (n=57); female 14.1 ± 3.8y, (n=53), p=0.07] with T1D of 6.31 ± 4.3y (95% CI 1.0-19.7y). Data were collected at 1-4 months before the lockdown and 1-4 months following the lifting of the lockdown at their first post-lockdown clinic visit.

RESULTS

There was no significant change in A1c between the pre- and post-pandemic lockdown periods, 0.18 ± 1.2%, (95% CI -0.05 to 0.41), p=0.13. There were equally no significant differences in A1c between the male and female subjects, -0.16 ± 1.2 vs -0.19 ± 1.2%, p=0.8; insulin pump users and non-pump users, -0.25 ± 1.0 vs -0.12 ± 1.4%, p=0.5; and pubertal vs prepubertal subjects, 0.18 ± 1.3 vs -0.11 ± 0.3%, p=0.6. The significant predictors of decrease in A1c were pre-lockdown A1c (p<0.0001) and the use of CGM (p=0.019). The CGM users had significant reductions in point-of-care A1c (0.4 ± 0.6%, p=0.0012), the CGM-estimated A1c (p=0.0076), mean glucose concentration (p=0.022), a significant increase in sensor usage (p=0.012), with no change in total daily dose of insulin (TDDI). The non-CGM users had significantly increased TDDI (p<0.0001) but no change in HbA1c, 0.06 ± 1.8%, p=0.86.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no change in glycemic control during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 in US children.