ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Intensive insulin therapy with multiple daily injections (MDI) gives better glycaemic control than conventional biphasic insulin regimen in children with type 1 Diabetes mellitus. Though MDI regimen is widely practiced in other countries, this is not so in Sri Lanka.

Objective: Effect on glycaemic control and BMI of children with TIDM after the change of insulin regimen to MDI from twice daily insulin regime. Methodology: Longitudinal observational study at the Lady Ridgeway hospital. Eligible children who were on twice a day insulin regimen were switched to MDI regimen and compared glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values before and after the regimen change at three monthly intervals for 6 months. BMI of the study sample was compared at the initiation and after 6 months of the study.

Results: Sample size 40. 37% male. Mean age was 9 years 3 months (range 2 years 3 months–14 years 8 months). There were no major hypoglycaemic events during the study period. Mean HbA1c at the start of the treatment was 9.815 which falled to 8.66 and 8.32 respectively at 3 and 6 months following treatment. The change in HbA1c from the baseline to 3 months and 6 months was significant with a P value of < 0.01. Between 3 months and 6 months there was no significance difference as the P value was 0.211. There was no significant difference in the BMI at the initiation of MDI therapy and after 6 months.

Conclusions: Change in insulin regime from twice daily to multiple daily insulin resulted in significant improvement in glycaemic control over 3 months and 6 months.