Flexible Insulin Therapy Works for Preschoolers Too

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A more flexible form of insulin therapy shown to work well for older children and adolescents gets the job done for younger kids as well, shows a new study.

But there’s one caveat: it only works for children who maintain a normal weight.

The research was conducted among 35 preschool children who had previously been on a multiple daily insulin (MDI) regimen to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus, or DM. All of the children were switched to the flexible multiple daily insulin (FMDI) regimen, which is delivered only twice a day and considered easier on children and families. The goal of both treatments is to more strictly control blood sugar over the course of the day while still allowing for greater food choices.

Results showed the flexible regimen was just as effective in controlling diabetes as the multiple injections, but only in children who were not considered overweight. Overall, about 43 percent of the children were overweight, which was defined at having a weight in the 85th percentile for age.

The authors write, “These findings suggest that FMDI regimens may be a feasible therapeutic alternative to MDI treatment for preschool-aged children with type 1 DM. However, excess body weight status appeared to preclude a desirable therapeutic response in this group of patients.”

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SOURCE: Pediatrics, 2005:115:1320-1324