A Study of Rapid-Acting Mealtime Insulin in Children and Adolescents With Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Although children and adolescents with T1DM have much more freedom with the amount of food (carbohydrates) they eat while using an ICR at mealtime, the difficulty in determining the amount of insulin needed, how and when to adjust the ICR, the difficulty with understanding the basics of managing T1DM, and the adaptation to a new lifestyle with T1DM may be more complicated than utilizing a simple plan that includes a fixed amount of insulin and fixed number of carbohydrates, at least for the first few months after diagnosis. As complicated as it is for children, adolescents, and their caregivers to learn how to manage T1DM after being discharged home in usually \< 48 hours after diagnosis, a more simplified insulin regimen at mealtime may provide the family of and the child or adolescent with newly diagnosed T1DM with less stress and anxiety while still maintaining adequate glycemic control. Twenty - 40 subjects will be recruited at Children's Hospital of Atlanta (CHOA) at Egleston and will be randomized to either the FIXED group or the ICR group according to a computer-generated random sampling table. The subject and his/her caregivers will receive diabetes education while in the hospital in standard fashion. The subject and his/her caregivers will receive glucose monitoring education and training prior to hospital discharge. The subject and his/her caregivers will also receive a paper log to record the blood sugars, number of carbohydrates consumed and insulin administered at each meal throughout the day. Prior to discharge, all subjects will receive a regimen that includes a: 1) Meal-time insulin and carbohydrate regimen (# of units of insulin, # of carbohydrates, and/or ICR); 2) Daily dose of Glargine; 3) Hyperglycemia correction regimen for blood glucose levels \> 199 mg/dL; and 4) Hypoglycemia treatment regimen for blood glucose levels \< 70 mg/dL and/or symptomatic. As per standard diabetes care, caregivers will report all blood glucose levels every day (to the study investigators) until the subject's initial clinic visit 4-6 weeks after diagnosis. All insulin adjustments will be made by the study investigators. After the subject's first clinic visit, caregivers will contact the study investigators once a week to report blood glucose levels and the investigators will make adjustments as needed. All the diabetes clinic visits will occur at the Center for Advanced Pediatrics (CAP), approximately three miles from CHOA-Egleston Hospital. Subjects will attend clinic with one or more of the investigators approximately 1 and 4 months after enrollment. At each clinic visit, subjects (and their caregivers) will answer standard diabetes questions, subjects will undergo a physical examination, and subjects' objective data (vital signs, glucose meter (GM) data, insulin dosing, and carbohydrate intake) will be collected by the study personnel.