Insulin Pump Therapy – Influence on Body Fat Redistribution, Skeletal Muscle Mass and Ghrelin, Leptin Changes in T1D Patients

Abstract

Background: To report changes in body composition and biochemical parameters in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) after switching from multiple daily injection (MDI) to continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII). Methods: 31 patients switched over from MDI to CSII. Body composition, biochemical parameters, glycaemic variability (GV) and level of physical activity were evaluated before and 6 months on CSII. Results: In both sexes, we found an increase in skeletal muscle mass (SMM), (p = 0.008; 0.008). In men, there was mainly a decrease in visceral fat area (VFA), (p = 0.028) and in women there was decrease of total body fat (TBF), (p = 0.020) and non-significant decrease of VFA (p = 0.098). SMM inversely correlated with VFA in men (p = –0.001) and with TBF in women (p = –0.005 ). GV was decreased generally and correlated inversely with TBF in men only (p = –0.026). Physical activity was increased and correlated inversely with VFA in men (p = –0.002) and in women (p = –0.006). Conclusions: Using CSII in T1D leads to a significant increase of SMM in both sexes to a decrease of VFA in men and to a non-significant decrease of VFA in women. Changes in adipose tissue and SMM were also related to increased physical activity and to decreased GV.

Keywords

• Insulin pump therapy
• Type 1 diabetes mellitus
• Visceral fat
• Leptin
• Ghrelin