Use of insulin pumps to improve therapy for type 1 diabetes has provided positive results, including saving the lives of patients, scientists say.
An insulin pump is a medical device used for the administration of insulin in the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
A team led by Soffia Gudbjoernsdottir from the University of Gothernburg in Sweden observed 18,000 sufferers of type 1 diabetes of whom 2,441 had an insulin pump, over a period of almost seven years.
She found that the overall mortality rate (statistically from all causes of death) dropped by 29 per cent when patients used the device, according to 'Austria Press Agency'.
The incidences of fatal cardiovascular disease were also reduced by about 43 per cent, 'Xinhua' news agency reported.
The pumps were originally designed for insulin-dependent diabetics whose blood glucose levels could not be adequately controlled with injections, and have in more recent years incorporated sensors to continually measure blood glucose levels and better adjust the insulin dose to the needs of the patient.
The study was presented at a meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna.
