Practice Variance in Thyroid Screening of Youth with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Variance between current American Diabetes Association (ADA) and International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) guidelines and in clinical practice exists for the use of thyroid antibody and thyroid function screening in pediatric patients with new-onset type 1 diabetes (T1D). METHODS: North American Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) members were surveyed regarding their thyroid screening practices of euthyroid youth with T1D. An institutional analysis of the ability of antithyroid peroxidase (aTPO) and antithyroglobulin antibodies (aTG) to predict the subsequent use of levothyroxine was performed. RESULTS: Forty-eight percent of 374 survey respondents tested both aTPO and aTG at diagnosis of T1D, but 35% performed no baseline antibody testing. If antibodies were positive, 89% of the respondents would perform annual thyroid function testing, but if antibodies were negative, 62% would follow thyroid function annually and 29% biannually. Institutionally, aTPO had significantly greater sensitivity (p = 0.04) but lower specificity (p = 0.008) than aTG for predicting the use of levothyroxine. CONCLUSIONS: Variance exists among North American PES members regarding thyroid disease screening for pediatric patients diagnosed with T1D, and this appears to reflect differences between ADA and ISPAD guidelines. A prospective multicenter observational study which shares electronic medical record data and compares aTPO and TSH as primary screening tests may allow for more uniform guidelines and address the possibility of using TSH alone.

Flexible insulin therapy with glargine insulin improved glycemic control and reduced severe hypoglycemia among preschool-aged children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Insulin replacement regimens now stress the importance of administering throughout the day insulin doses that are based on flexible food choices and focusing on improved metabolic control. A flexible multiple daily insulin (FMDI) regimen (premeal lispro plus bedtime glargine) results in lower hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and fewer hypoglycemic episodes than does a multiple daily insulin (MDI) regimen among school-aged children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of FMDI therapy for a group of preschool-aged children with type 1 DM who were transitioned from MDI therapy (premeal lispro plus ultralente insulin twice per day), by comparing BMI, total daily insulin requirements, HbA1c levels, and episodes of severe hypoglycemia. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were collected over a 2-year period, during quarterly DM clinic visits, from 35 patients (17 female patients and 18 male patients, 4.8 +/- 1.0 years of age) who had received MDI insulin therapy for > or =1 year before being transitioned to a FMDI regimen. RESULTS: Although there was no significant change in BMI with FMDI therapy (17.1 +/- 1.8 kg/m2 vs 17.0 +/- 1.7 kg/m2), 43% of patients (6 female subjects and 9 male subjects) were overweight (BMI of >85th percentile for age) both before and after treatment. The total daily insulin requirement (0.67 +/- 0.13 U/kg per day vs 0.78 +/- 0.14 U/kg per day) and bolus/basal insulin ratio (1.1 +/- 0.4 vs 1.9 +/- 0.6) were significantly increased and overall glycemic control was improved after transition to FMDI therapy (HbA1c levels: 8.8 +/- 0.9% vs 8.3 +/- 0.8%). However, HbA1c levels improved only among normal-weight subjects (9.0 +/- 1.0% vs 8.3 +/- 1.0%) and not among overweight subjects (8.7 +/- 0.7% vs 8.4 +/- 0.6%) after FMDI therapy. The overall rate of severe hypoglycemia was significantly decreased with the FMDI regimen (25.5 events per 100 patient-years vs 10.6 events per 100 patient-years) but again only for normal-weight children (29.7 events per 100 patient-years vs 7.4 events per 100 patient-years). CONCLUSIONS: The use of FMDI therapy with glargine among preschool-aged children with type 1 DM was associated with improved overall glycemic control and decreased frequency of severe hypoglycemia. Although our study did not have a control group, these findings suggest that FMDI regimens may be a feasible therapeutic alternative to MDI treatment for preschool-aged children with type 1 DM. However, excess body weight status appeared to preclude a desirable therapeutic response in this group of patients.

Beneficial effects of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion and flexible multiple daily insulin regimen using insulin glargine in type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the metabolic effects of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) with flexible multiple daily insulin (FMDI; premeal lispro + bedtime glargine) therapy as determined by glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), and hypoglycemic episodes in a group of patients who made the transition from multiple daily insulin (premeal lispro + bid ultralente) to either CSII or FMDI therapy. METHODS: Data from 40 (27 female and 13 male) patients (10.1-17.8 years of age) who were on CSII and 40 age- and gender-matched (27 female and 13 male) patients (10.3-17.3 years of age) who were on FMDI were collected during regularly scheduled visits at a similar frequency over a 1-year period. RESULTS: The total daily insulin dose did not change in CSII (0.97 +/- 0.24 vs 0.91 +/- 0.22 U/kg) and FMDI (0.98 +/- 0.21 vs 0.97 +/- 0.21 U/kg) patients, whereas the bolus:basal insulin ratio was significantly increased in both CSII (1.01 +/- 0.43 vs 1.32 +/- 0.52) and FMDI (1.07 +/- 0.0.41 vs 1.29 +/- 0.47) patients. The total cohort of CSII patients showed a decrease in HbA1c from 8.4 +/- 1.0% to 7.8 +/- 0.8%, whereas the FMDI cohort did not show a significant change in HbA1c (8.5 +/- 1.1% to 8.2 +/- 0.9%). However, 40% of the CSII group and 22.5% of the FMDI group showed > or =1.0% improvement in HbA1c. Also, a similar number of patients in CSII (52.5%; 8.0 +/- 1.1 to 7.2 +/- 0.5%) and FMDI (47.5%; 8.0 +/- 0.5% to 7.5 +/- 0.4%) maintained or achieved target HbA1c values <8.0%. The BMI increased significantly in the CSII group (21.6 +/- 3.2 vs 23.0 +/- 3.0 kg/m2) but did not change in the FMDI group (21.9 +/- 3.9 vs 22.6 +/- 3.8 kg/m2). There was a significant reduction in the rate of severe hypoglycemia (events/100 patient-years) in both cohorts: 20.6 to 8.2 in the CSII and 18.8 to 7.5 in the FMDI. Similarly, the rate of moderate hypoglycemia decreased in both CSII (68.3-35.4) and FMDI (56.3-30.4). CONCLUSIONS: CSII therapy resulted in a significant improvement in HbA 1c in the entire group, whereas FMDI therapy improved HbA1c in only a subgroup of patients. However, almost half of the patients in each of the treatment groups maintained or achieved target glycemic control. Both CSII and FMDI treatment groups demonstrated a decreased rate of hypoglycemia without an abnormal increase in BMI. Although the design of this study does not allow direct comparison of the metabolic effects of CSII and FMDI therapies, both regimens seem to be superior to basal ultralente and lispro multiple daily insulin regimen and offer desirable therapeutic alternatives in pediatric diabetes care.

Screening girls with Turner syndrome: the National Cooperative Growth Study experience.

The National Cooperative Growth Study (NCGS) database was examined to determine whether the availability of expert guidelines affected the clinical management of 955 patients with Turner syndrome (TS). Although cardiac and renal evaluations increased in frequency after guideline publication, hearing screenings declined. Although girls with TS show significant cardiac, renal, and hearing problems, screening for these disorders remains inadequate.