Air occlusion in insulin pumps of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Knoll, Michelle; Vazifedan, Turaj; Gyuricsko, Eric

doi:10.1515/jpem-2019-0358

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…At least, the studies referred to below describe the clinical relevance of air bubbles in kids and adolescents. 3 A correlation between the number of air bubbles and the age of the study participants was observed. Also, patients with high insulin sensitivity might respond more rapidly to interruptions in insulin flow.…”

Section: Clinical Relevance Of Air Bubblesmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…• • One study was conducted to evaluate how frequently air bubbles occur in insulin pump infusion lines and identify the factors that lead to clinically relevant air bubbles. 3 For this purpose, the authors recruited 53 children and adolescents with diabetes and visually observed their infusion sets. The length of all observed air bubbles was measured and converted to time without insulin delivery at the lowest basal rate.…”

Section: Publications About Air Bubblesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air Bubbles in Insulin Pumps: A Clinically Relevant Issue?

Heinemann¹

2022

J Diabetes Sci Technol

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Section: Clinical Relevance Of Air Bubblesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Publications About Air Bubblesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Bubbles in Insulin Pumps: A Clinically Relevant Issue?

Heinemann¹

2022

J Diabetes Sci Technol

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Effects of atmospheric pressure change during flight on insulin pump delivery and glycaemic control of pilots with insulin-treated diabetes: an in vitro simulation and a retrospective observational real-world study

Garden,

Fan,

Paterson

et al. 2024

Diabetologia

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Aims/hypothesis Glycaemic control and clinical outcomes in diabetes are improved by continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII). Atmospheric pressure changes during flights may affect insulin delivery from pumps and cause unintended metabolic consequences, including hypoglycaemia, in people with type 1 diabetes. The present report evaluates both hypobaric flight simulation and real-world data in pilots using insulin pumps while flying. Methods In the flight simulation part of this study, an in vitro study of insulin pumps was conducted in a hypobaric chamber, de-pressurised to 550 mmHg to mimic the atmospheric pressure changes in airliner cabins during commercial flights. Insulin delivery rates and bubble formation were recorded for standard flight protocol. Insulin infusion sets, without pumps, were tested in a simulated rapid decompression scenario. The real-world observational study was a 7.5-year retrospective cohort study in which pre- and in-flight self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG) values were monitored in pilots with insulin-treated diabetes. Commercial and private pilots granted a medical certificate to fly within the European Union Aviation Safety Agency approved protocol and receiving insulin either by pump or multiple daily injections (MDI) were included. Results In the flight simulation study, full cartridges over-delivered 0.60 U of insulin during a 20 min ascent and under-delivered by 0.51 U during descent compared with ground-level performance. During emergency rapid decompression, 5.6 U of excess insulin was delivered. In the real-world study, seven pilots using CSII recorded 4656 SMBG values during 2345 h of flying across 1081 flights. Only 33 (0.7%) values were outside an acceptable safe range (5.0–15.0 mmol/l [90–270 mg/dl]). No clinically significant fall in the median SMBG concentration was observed after aircraft ascent and no in-flight SMBG values were within the hypoglycaemic range (<4.0 mmol/l [<72 mg/dl]). Compared with pilots receiving MDI therapy, pilots using CSII recorded more SMBG values within the acceptable range (99.3% vs 97.5%), fewer values in the low red range (0.02% vs 0.1%), fewer in-flight out-of-range values (0.2% vs 1.3%) and maintained stricter glycaemic control during flight. Conclusions/interpretation Ambient pressure reduction during simulated flights results in bubble formation and expansion within insulin cartridges. This causes unintended delivery of small insulin doses independent of pre-determined delivery rates and represents the maximum amount of insulin that could be delivered and retracted. However, in vivo, pilots using CSII in-flight did not experience a fall in blood glucose or episodes of hypoglycaemia during these atmospheric pressure changes and the use of insulin pumps can be endorsed in view of their clinical benefits. Graphical Abstract

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