Insulin pumps lower risk of fatal heart problems by 43 per cent

Use of insulin pumps is associated with much lower risks of cardiovascular deaths, as well as deaths from other causes, compared with use of insulin pens.
The study carried out by researchers at the University of Gothenburg enrolled over 18,168 patients with type 1 diabetes from the Swedish National Diabetes Register. Of these patients, 15,727 used insulin pens on a multiple daily injection therapy and the other 2,441 patients used insulin pumps.
The participants were reviewed over a period of 7 years and rates of cardiovascular disease (heart disease) and death were analysed. The findings showed that users of insulin pumps, when compared to the users of insulin pens, were:

43% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease
29% less likely to die from any cause
18% less likely to develop either fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular disease

The researchers note that there were differences between the groups of insulin pump users and insulin pen users. For instance, users of insulin pumps were generally slightly younger, had shorter durations of diabetes, lower blood pressure and better levels of education. Whilst propensity-scoring was used to balance differences between the two groups, the researchers noted that other confounding factors may not have been accounted for. HbA1c was balanced between …read more

Source:: News from Diabetes.co.uk