14 DAY TRIAL // A new University of Cambridge research has found that an artificial pancreas is of tremendous help to pregnant women who suffer from Type 1 diabetes drastically reducing cases of stillbirth and mortality rates among mothers.
Having diabetes and being pregnant is very difficult, because of the hormonal changes which make keeping blood glucose levels within a safe range very challenging, especially at night.
This is why the babies of diabetic women have five times more risks of being stillborn, three times the risk of dying in their first months of life and are twice as likely to suffer from a major malformation.
Dr Helen Murphy of the University of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Biochemistry, is the leader of the study which assessed the performance of an artificial pancreas, also called a 'closed-loop insulin delivery system', in ten pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes.
This artificial pancreas was built by combining a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) with an insulin pump, both of which are already being used separately by many people with the condition.
Prior research has proved that using an artificial pancreas at night, in children with Type 1 diabetes, leads to an improved blood glucose control and reduced hypoglycemia, but this is the first time that the device has been successfully used in pregnant women with diabetes.
The device provided the right amount of insulin at the right time, automatically, thus maintaining near normal blood glucose levels and preventing nocturnal hypoglycemia, in both early and late pregnancy.
Dr Murphy said that “for women with Type 1 diabetes, self-management is particularly challenging during pregnancy due to physiologic and hormonal changes.
“Previous studies indicate that pregnant women with the condition spend an average of ten hours a day with glucose levels outside the recommended target.
“These high blood glucose levels increase the risk of congenital malformation, stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm delivery, macrosomia [oversized babies] and neonatal admission.
“So to discover an artificial pancreas can help maintain near-normal glucose levels in these women is very promising,” she added.
Diabetes UK Director or Research, Dr Iain Frame, added that “although early days, this exciting area of research has huge potential to make pregnancy much safer for women with Type 1 diabetes, and their babies.
“It's a fantastic example of how existing technologies, in this case, insulin pumps and CGMs, can be adapted and developed to benefit as many people with diabetes as possible.
“We now need to see an extension of this study, one which tests larger numbers of women, and then take it out of the hospital and in to the home setting.”
Two out of three mothers with pre-existing diabetes have Type 1 diabetes, and hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels) in pregnancy is a major cause of maternal mortality.
This research was funded by the health charity Diabetes UK and it is published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.