The teams from the pediatric endocrinology-diabetology department of the Robert-Debré AP-HP hospital, the Angers University Hospital, the Tours University Hospital and the Montpellier University Hospital (study coordinating team), assessed the impact of the prolonged use of an “artificial pancreas” in children aged between 6 and 12 years with type 1 diabetes, on blood sugar control and BMI throughout pubertal progression.
The results of this study were the subject of a publication published on July 10, 2024 in the journal Diabetes Care.
Over the past thirty years, the incidence of type 1 diabetes in the population has increased by 4% each year. Prolonged hyperglycemia carries many risks, in children and adults; Blood sugar control is therefore an issue at all ages for patients with diabetes. However, for children with type 1 diabetes, the stakes increase during this pivotal period of puberty, synonymous with hormonal upheavals and changes in the body.
The control of blood sugar levels at the time of puberty under treatment with an “artificial pancreas” in children living with type 1 diabetes constitutes the point of interest of this study coordinated by Professor Eric Renard (Montpellier University Hospital) and carried out in four French centers (Robert-Debré AP-HP, CHRU Tours, CHU Angers and CHU de Montpellier).
The study, initiated in 2019, followed for 39 months in real life 117 patients living with type 1 diabetes, equipped between the ages of 6 and 12 (before the start of puberty) with an automated delivery system of insulin also called hybrid closed loop, (“artificial pancreas”). This technological innovation (Tandem Control IQ) combines an insulin pump, a blood glucose sensor, and an algorithm hosted in the pump allowing automatic adjustment of the necessary insulin dose.
This is the longest prospective study ever published in children benefiting from this type of system. It demonstrates that the use of closed loop systems acts as an effective lever in the face of the glycemic deterioration usually observed during the pubertal period, without impact on the corpulence of patients.
These results are very encouraging for children at pre-pubertal and puberty ages with type 1 diabetes, for their health and their daily quality of life.
« Being able to make these devices available to patients and their families has been and remains a particularly rewarding experience on a daily basis. The parents of these children who got up several times a night now have less troubled sleep and the children and adolescents are adopting these devices, which are simple to use, despite the complex technology. » concludes Dr. Elise Bismuth, pediatric diabetologist in the endocrinology-diabetology department of the Robert-Debré AP-HP hospital and first author of this study.
About AP-HP: The leading hospital and university center (CHU) in Europe, the AP-HP and its 38 hospitals are organized into six hospital-university groups (AP-HP. Center – Université Paris Cité; AP-HP. Sorbonne Université; AP-HP . North – Paris Cité University; Paris-Saclay University; Henri-Mondor University Hospitals and Paris Seine-Saint-Denis University Hospitals. Closely linked to major research organizations, the AP-HP has eight world-class university hospital institutes (ICM, ICAN, IMAGINE, FOReSIGHT, PROMETHEUS, lnovAND, reConnect, THEMA) and the largest health data warehouse ( EDS) French. A major player in applied research and innovation in health, AP-HP holds a portfolio of 810 active patents, its clinical researchers sign more than 11,000 each year scientific publications and nearly 4,400 research projects are currently under development, all promoters combined. In 2020, AP-HP obtained the Carnot Institute label, which rewards the quality of partnership research: Carnot@AP-HP offers industrial players solutions in applied and clinical research in the field of health. The AP-HP also created the AP-HP Foundation in 2015, which acts directly with caregivers in order to support the organization of care, hospital staff and research within the AP–HP.
