Management of glycemic variation in diabetic patients receiving parenteral nutrition by continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy

To compare the continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) or insulin glargine based multiple injections (MDI) therapy on glycemic variations in diabetic patients receiving PN outside of intensive care settings. This was a single-center, randomized, open-label trial. Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who were receiving parenteral nutrition (PN) were recruited. After baseline data were collected, recruited patients were then randomized 1:1 to a CSII group or a MDI group. All patients were subjected to a 4-day retrospective Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM). The primary endpoint was the differences of the 24-hrs mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE) in patients receiving the PN therapy between the two groups. A total of 102 patients with T2D receiving PN were recruited. Patients in the CSII group had a significantly decreased mean glucose level (MBG), the standard deviation of MG (SDBG), MAGE, and the coefficient of variation (CV%) compared to those in MDI group (all P < 0.01). Furthermore, we found that the patients who received a bolus insulin dose required maintaining euglycemic control was gradually decreased during the PN period in both groups at the endpoint. The administration of insulin via CSII led to a significant decrease in glycemic variations in patients receiving PN.