Reassessment of insulin dosing guidelines in continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion treated type 1 diabetes

Abstract

It is a daunting task to initiate or evaluate continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion, pump, dosing in a patient with type 1 diabetes. Choosing a low dose may lead to hyperglycemia or, too high, hypoglycemia. Mathematical dosing guidelines were used with the first human insulin injection in 1922. Since that time, they have been enlarged and modified. The current widely published guidelines were developed from retrospective evaluations of pump-downloads in patients without specified diet conditions or timed glucose testing. When diet is controlled and glucose testing is timed to evaluate post-meal excursions and during sleep, recent prospective studies found that these current dosing recommendations for basal insulin were too high and for bolus insulin too low. Further, simple mathematical interrelationships were published that kept the right proportions between the bolus dosing factors and the basal dose.