| Abstract: | We instructed pregnant women with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) how to monitor their own blood glucose concentrations and evaluated the efficiency and feasibility of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy. Self-monitored glucose concentrations with a reflectance meter correlated with those of hospital laboratory measurements (hexokinase method) with a coefficient of more than 0.9. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1) levels of the patients were normalized with insulin treatment based on the self-monitored glucose concentrations. In pregnant women with NIDDM who monitored their blood glucose concentrations before breakfast, the fasting glucose concentrations could be lowered by insulin administration and the duration of hospitalization could be shortened compared to non-monitored patients. Although diurnal variations were prominent in pregnant women with IDDM and precise control of their blood glucose concentrations was difficult with conventional insulin administration, even if the patients had monitored their glucose concentrations 7 times a day, the mean glucose concentrations and M values could be kept in the optimum range in patients treated with CSII. These methods have contributed to the improvement in maternal and infant complications. |
