A new study has found children who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before the age of six have better blood glucose control and fewer hypos if they start on a pump rather than multiple daily injections.
Researchers from the University Hospital of Reims in France studied 66 children who had been diagnosed with diabetes for at least five years and before the age of six.
Almost half of the children were started on an insulin pump as their initial treatment while the other half were treated with multiple daily injections, and all but three eventually changed over to an insulin pump.
The results were published online in the Journal of Pediatrics showed that over eight years those who initially started on a pump had significantly lower blood glucose levels and were less than half as likely to experience a severe hypo.
The researchers found in those who started on multiple daily injections, blood glucose levels increased over the study period while the levels for those using the pump increased only during the first two years and then remained stable.
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