WEDNESDAY, Sept. 17, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with diabetes, use of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) is associated with reductions in the risk of death and fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with the use of insulin injections, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held from Sept. 15 to 19 in Vienna.
Soffia Gudbjörnsdottir, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and colleagues examined the effect of CSII on long-term risk for CVD and mortality. Data were obtained for 2,441 patients with CSII and 15,727 with multiple daily insulin injections who were followed for a mean of nearly seven years.
The researchers found that patients with CSII had a 29 percent lower likelihood of all-cause mortality and a 43 percent lower likelihood of developing fatal CVD, compared to those with multiple daily insulin injections; both results were statistically significant. Pump use correlated with an 18 percent risk reduction in fatal or nonfatal coronary heart disease (borderline statistical significance). For fatal/nonfatal CVD combined and for non-CVD mortality, there were nonsignificant reductions with pump treatment.
"The conclusion of this large observational study is that pump treatment may be associated with a lower risk of CVD and all-cause mortality than injections," the authors said in a statement.
Abstract
More Information
