Insulin pump therapy for pregnancy: a primer

Abstract

Current knowledge and advances in insulin formulations, insulin pump technology, and blood glucose monitoring techniques have improved practitioners’ ability to achieve diabetic people’s blood glucose targets. Practitioners and pregnant women should bear in mind that important differences exist in glucose metabolism during pregnancy and require a different approach from non-pregnant people to avoid pregnant women’s experience being adversely affected. Insulin pump therapy, if used skillfully by practitioners and their pregnant patients, can be especially beneficial for some diabetic women during their pregnancies. Women’s healthcare practitioners should endeavor to be familiar with this therapy, even if they are not experts in its full complexity.

Keywords::

• continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion
• diabetes and pregnancy
• preconception care
• intensive insulin therapy

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of this paper.