For insulin bombs
Pressure changes when flying could affect
Diabetics
NEW YORK, Aug 23 (Reuters/EP) -
Pressure changes during plane trips could make
Insulin pumps emit too much or very little medication, which
could put extremely sensitive diabetics at risk of these
variations, according to a study.
Experts led by Bruce King, from the John Hunter Children's Hospital in
Newcastle, Australia, wrote in the magazine 'Diabetes Care' that they decided to
investigate the subject after knowing a 10 -year -old girl with type 1 diabetes to
that the glucose lowered him too much after the take -off.
After hearing that other diabetics who used insulin pumps -which are
They generally place people with type 1 diabetes to administer the
hormone throughout the day- they had similar experiences, researchers
They put 10 of these devices on a commercial flight.
During takeoff, when air pressure was decreasing,
Pumps issued between 1 and 1.4 extra insulin units, on average.
During landing, when the pressure was increasing, a certain amount of
insulin returned to the bombs, which caused the emission of small amount of the
hormone, that is to say less than one unit.
"Atmospheric pressure reduction causes predictable emission and
Involuntary of insulin in the pumps for the formation of bubbles and the expansion
Of existing bubbles, "King and his team write.
The author added to Reuters Health: "Anyone who uses a bomb of
insulin should know that big changes in pressure can cause this
effect".
However, other diabetes specialists pointed out that the problem is little
Frequent and that, in most diabetics, rarely causes problems.
"It really is not a frequent or recurring problem that listens to
patients who fly, "says Robert Cohen, an endocrinologist at the Faculty of
Medicine of the University of Cincinnati, who did not participate in the study.
"People very sensitive to small doses changes are the ones who go
to be more sensitive to this.People who receive wide doses or that are not very sensitive (...) are much less likely to be affected by this, "
duck.
King team recommends disconnecting the bombs before takeoff and
landing and make sure there are no air bubbles in insulin before
reconnect them, although Cohen said it was extremely important that
people know how to do this correctly.
Cohen adds that patients should check with their doctors if this could
be a problem for them and, if so, how to securely deal with
The matter.
The pumps used in the study were manufactured by Animas and Medtronic, which
They wrote in a joint statement to Reuters Health: "Many factors affect
Blood glucose during the trip and it is unlikely that the effect of small
variations in doses during the course of a plane trip are clinically
significant.However, both companies continue to investigate the
subject, "they add.
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