Conditions: Diabetes, Gestational Diabetes, Type 2
Keywords: Insulin, Long-Acting
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 105
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
The aim of this study is to compare glycemic control in pregnant women treated with insulin Detemir and pregnant women treated with NPH insulin. These women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GDM) in the current pregnancy or have a preexisting diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) at the onset of pregnancy. Our hypothesis is that there is no difference between these two treatment modalities in terms of glycemic control in diabetes.

Detailed description:
The experimental method will be a randomized controlled trial performed at Roosevelt Hospital in our Diabetes in Pregnancy Program (DIPP). Perinatologists managing the patient in DIPP determine when patients need further treatment with medical therapy. Patients undergoing care at DIPP may require medical intervention in the following clinical scenarios: failure of diet alone to control glycemic indices and grossly abnormal glucose tolerance screening test results suggesting disease of such severity that diet alone would not be sufficient. After verbally counseling the patient, she will be recruited for the study by the investigators. An extensive explanation of the objectives of the study will be presented to the patient, as well as written copies of the protocol and consent. After informed consent is given, patients will be randomized to management with either insulin NPH or detemir together with rapid acting insulin aspart (Novolog) with meals, as necessary. The primary outcome will be level of glycemic control defined as overall mean blood glucose in pregnancy. This is a well established measure of overall glycemic control that has been used in numerous publications in the obstetric literature on diabetes in pregnancy. Participants will be followed until they deliver, with an expected range of 6-16 weeks depending on when the patient was enrolled in the study. The mean glucose will be determined by the sum of average glucose at each visit divided by the number of visits).

Arms:
arm 1: Initial daily total insulin doses will be determined as per a weight based protocol depending on what trimester the patient is in. Sixty percent of the total daily insulin dose will be allotted to the morning total dose of insulin, while the remaining 40% will be allotted to the evening total dose. Of the morning dose, 2/3 will be allotted to the long acting insulin and 1/3 to short acting insulin. She will take half of the short-acting dose with breakfast and the other half with lunch. The evening insulin dose (40% of the total dose) will be divided in two: half the dose will be taken as short-acting insulin with dinner, and the other half as long acting insulin at bedtime. Doses are rounded down if decimals are present. arm 2: Initial daily total insulin doses will be determined as per a weight based protocol depending on what trimester the patient is in. Sixty percent of the total daily insulin dose will be allotted to the morning total dose of insulin, while the remaining 40% will be allotted to the evening total dose. Of the morning dose, 2/3 will be allotted to the long acting insulin and 1/3 to short acting insulin. She will get the entire dose of short-acting insulin with breakfast. The evening insulin dose (40% of the total dose) will be divided in two: half the dose will be taken as short-acting insulin with dinner, and the other half as long acting insulin at bedtime. Doses are rounded down if decimals are present.

Interventions: intervention 1: Insulin
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: None

Protocol document: