Overnight Monitoring System Could Help Diabetics Sleep Seizure-Free

By Joel Lindsey

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a system that could effectively monitor blood sugar levels and control the administration of insulin to diabetics while they sleep.

The new system works by linking together a glucose sensor worn under the patient’s skin with an insulin pump, which is connected wirelessly to a nearby laptop computer. The computer uses an algorithm to process incoming blood-sugar data and predict when low blood-sugar levels are likely to occur. Any time blood-sugar levels dip, the computer program stops delivery of insulin until sugar levels begin to balance out.

According to a press release published recently on Stanford’s website, the system could provide significant aid to diabetics, since 75 percent of diabetic seizures occur at night while patients are asleep.

“A system like this should dramatically decrease diabetics’ risk of having a seizure overnight,” said Bruce Buckingham, professor of pediatric endocrinology at Stanford and researcher involved with the project. “Patients and parents will be able to have a better night’s sleep, knowing that there is a much lower risk of severe hypoglycemia at night.”

In an initial study, the details of which have been published recently in the journal Diabetes Care, 45 people with type-1 diabetes between the ages of 15 and 45 used the system for 42 nights each. At the end of the trial period, researchers reported an 81 percent reduction in the amount of time patients spent with low blood sugar levels while asleep.

With the initial study now complete, researchers plan to turn their focus toward testing the system’s effectiveness for young people and children.

“A lot of parents whose children have diabetes are getting up night after night at midnight and 3 a.m. to check their children’s blood-sugar levels,” said Buckingham. “We think this type of system is going to make it much easier for them to feel comfortable about letting their child with diabetes sleep through the night with fewer overnight sugar tests. Parents will be able to get a better night’s sleep, too.”

Past attempts at monitoring blood sugar levels and administering insulin to sleeping diabetic patients have primarily included some form of alarm system to alert patients when their blood sugar levels begin to drop. According to Stanford’s press release, though, these approaches have proven largely ineffective since about 70 percent of patients tend to sleep through the alarms.

Researchers involved with this newest project claim that their new system’s ability to automate both the monitoring of blood sugar levels and the administration of insulin could provide an effective alternative.