Effectiveness of Insulin Pump Therapy Versus Multiple Daily Injections for Glycemic Control and Rate of Diabetic Ketoacidosis Among Children With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background Advances in pump technology and the availability of insulin analogs, as well as the results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), which established the benefit of improved glycemic control, have all contributed to the increased use of insulin pump therapy in recent years, particularly in children. Purpose This research aims to compare the impact of insulin delivery method, i.e., continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) or multiple daily injections (MDI) on glycemic control and the rate of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) among children with type 1 diabetes mellitus in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Methods  A retrospective cohort study was carried out in a diabetic center in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, over 24 months (2020-2022) among children with type I diabetes mellitus (age group 1-14 years). Results  In total, 351 patients with diabetes were induced, with 316 (90%) on MDI and 35 (10%) on CSII. After six months of diagnosis, precisely 38 (12%) of patients with diabetes on the MDI regimen experienced DKA, compared to 4 (11.4%) of those on the CSII regimen, with no statistically significant difference (P=0.918). At six months and nine months of follow-up, the average hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) was considerably higher in diabetic patients on MDI (8.9 ± 1.7% vs. 8.2 ± 1.5% and 9.1 ± 1.6% vs. 8.0 ± 1.3%, respectively, with a significant p-value ≤0.05). Conclusion In this study, we found that patients on the MDI regimen had considerably higher HbA1c levels than patients on the CSII regimen, but there was no statistically significant difference in DKA rates between them. This is a short-term follow-up study, and we recommend that patients be followed for a longer period of time for further accurate outcomes.

Predicting age at onset of type 1 diabetes in children using regression, artificial neural network and Random Forest: A case study in Saudi Arabia.

The rising incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) among children is an increasing concern globally. A reliable estimate of the age at onset of T1D in children would facilitate intervention plans for medical practitioners to reduce the problems with delayed diagnosis of T1D. This paper has utilised Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Random Forest (RF) to model and predict the age at onset of T1D in children in Saudi Arabia (S.A.) which is ranked as the 7th for the highest number of T1D and 5th in the world for the incidence rate of T1D. De-identified data between (2010-2020) from three cities in S.A. were used to model and predict the age at onset of T1D. The best subset model selection criteria, coefficient of determination, and diagnostic tests were deployed to select the most significant variables. The efficacy of models for predicting the age at onset was assessed using multi-prediction accuracy measures. The average age at onset of T1D is 6.2 years and the most common age group for onset is (5-9) years. Most of the children in the sample (68%) are from urban areas of S.A., 75% were delivered after a full term pregnancy length and 31% were delivered through a cesarean section. The models of best fit were the MLR and RF models with R2 = (0.85 and 0.95), the root mean square error = (0.25 and 0.15) and mean absolute error = (0.19 and 0.11) respectively for logarithm of age at onset. This study for the first time has utilised MLR, ANN and RF models to predict the age at onset of T1D in children in S.A. These models can effectively aid health care providers to monitor and create intervention strategies to reduce the impact of T1D in children in S.A.

Mineralocorticoid Deficiency as an Early Presenting Symptom of Allgrove Syndrome With Novel Mutation: A Case Report.

Allgrove syndrome or Triple-A syndrome is a triad of achalasia, alacrimia, and adrenal insufficiency. It is a rare disease that's only described in the literature with no known incidence rate. Atypical presentation of some cases is rarely seen, especially with monotonous symptoms. We are describing an early age of presentation with dual symptoms of Allgrove Syndrome than the triplet with novel homozygous variant at c.885G>A in the AAAS gene.