Research Presses On For Artificial Pancreas

In order to reach the findings, the study observed around 58 patients with diabetes type 1.

Still, scientists say the results underline the need for people with diabetes to monitor their blood-sugar levels closely and for physicians to actively treat diabetes patients even as cognitive functions decline.

Diabetes may be harder on women’s hearts than it is on men’s, according to research presented Monday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Stockholm, Sweden. All of the participants then used traditional sensor-augmented pump therapy for 12 months as a means of comparison.

Scientists have previously suggested a link between elevated blood-sugar levels and Alzheimer’s disease, but the researchers said this was the first large-scale study looking at how controlling the presence of glucose in the blood affected the risk of being diagnosed with dementia in the future.

“Our main aim was to be able to show that closed-loop application works in the day and night period, especially in the long term, and without supervision….We are now at a stage where we’ve shown that prolonged 3-month, day/night use of closed-loop control in adults is feasible, and 3-month overnight control in children is feasible”, lead investigator Dr. Hood Thabit of the U.K.’s University of Cambridge told Medscape Medical News.

The participants were made to use the artificial pancreas for 12 weeks initially.

“About 5% of the 29 million Americans with diabetes have T1D, which occurs when the body kills cells in the pancreas that produce insulin and glucagon that regulate blood glucose levels”.

It was then found out that glucose levels in adults remained within the target range for about 68% of the time when using the close-looped system.

“Many people in the field have seen the potential of the artificial pancreas systems and thought that they could add significant value But we worry about what’s going to really happen when people go out in the real world where you have exercise, you might be golfing all day, eating huge meals, and drinking alcohol”.

Susan Walls is mother to Daniel Walls, a 12-year-old with type 1 diabetes who has taken part in the trial. “The advantage of a closed-loop system is the responsive, graduated modulation of insulin delivery, both below and above the preset pump regimen, which allows for improvements in the proportion of time spent in target glucose range and the lowering of the mean glucose level without increasing the risk of hypoglycemia”.