Altitude changes during commercial flights may affect the blood glucose levels of people with type 1 diabetes who are treated with insulin pump therapy, according to new research to be presented at this year's Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) , Madrid (9-13 Sept). "We investigated the effect atmospheric pressure changes during flight can have on insulin pumps following concerns that glucose levels may drop below the normal ranges during or immediately after flights," explained lead author Dr. Ka Siu Fan from the Royal Surry County Hospital and University of Surrey, UK.
In the study, insulin delivery from 26 insulin pumps was tested in Europe's largest hypobaric chamber to mimic the atmospheric changes during a normal commercial flight. The hypobaric chamber was depressurized to 550 mmHg over a 20-minute ascent, maintained at a 30-minute cruise (mimicking an airline pressurized cabin altitude of 8,000 feet), followed by a 20-minute descent to the ground (with an ambient pressure increase to 750 mmHg). During the simulated flights, insulin infusion was set at 0.
60 units per hour to represent a rate used in adult and pediatric practice and to allow accurate measurements on multiple flights. Insulin delivery rates and bubble formation (caused by air coming out of a solution and forming bubbles when pressure decreases) were recorded by attaching infusion sets to open-ended 100 microliter capillary tubes against 1mm grid paper. Insulin inf.