Day-to-day variation of insulin sensitivity in patients with type 1 diabetes: role of gender and menstrual cycle

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to compare the day-to-day variations of the insulin sensitivity in male and female Type 1 diabetic patients and to assess the insulin sensitivity in the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Ten male and 20 female Type 1 diabetic patients participated in the study. The insulin sensitivity was assessed by the insulin (0.4 mU kg-1 min-1)-glucose/(4.5 mg kg-1 min-1)-infusion test (IGIT). In 5 of the female patients, a simultaneous i.v. influsion of somatostatin (100 micrograms h-1) was given (SIGIT). Each patient was studied twice, with 2 weeks separating the two tests. The day-to-day variations of the insulin sensitivity were almost identical in the male and female patients, the coefficients of variation being 13% in both groups. In 15 of the female patients, ovulation occurred. In these women, the mean blood-glucose levels between 120 and 240 min after the onset of the IGIT/SIGIT were 9.8 +/- 1.1 mmol l-1 in the follicular phase and 10.3 +/- 1.0 mmol l-1 in the luteal phase, n.s. (95% confidence interval for the difference (luteal-follicular) -0.8-1.9 mmol l-1). Although the present study cannot exclude minor changes of insulin sensitivity during the menstrual cycle, our results suggest that the changes of the metabolic control during the menstrual cycle, experienced by many women with Type 1 diabetes, are largely attributable to mechanisms other than variations of insulin sensitivity.