Journal of Diabetes Investigation (May 2024)

Interactive calculator to estimate insulin sensitivity in type 1 diabetes

  • Andrzej S Januszewski,
  • Pawel Niedzwiecki,
  • Nirupa Sachithanandan,
  • Glenn M Ward,
  • David N O’Neal,
  • Dorota A Zozulinska‐Ziolkiewicz,
  • Aleksandra A Uruska,
  • Alicia J Jenkins

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/jdi.14161
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 5
pp. 594 – 597

Abstract

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ABSTRACT The gold standard for measuring insulin sensitivity (IS) is the hyperinsulinemic–euglycemic clamp, a time, costly, and labor‐intensive research tool. A low insulin sensitivity is associated with a complication‐risk in type 1 diabetes. Various formulae using clinical data have been developed and correlated with measured IS in type 1 diabetes. We consolidated multiple formulae into an online calculator (bit.ly/estimated‐GDR), enabling comparison of IS and its probability of IS 6.50 mg/kg/min (high), as measured in a validation set of clamps in 104 adults with type 1 diabetes. Insulin sensitivity calculations using different formulae varied significantly, with correlations (R2) ranging 0.005–0.87 with agreement in detecting low and high glucose disposal rates in the range 49–93% and 89–100%, respectively. We demonstrate that although the calculated IS varies between formulae, their interpretation remains consistent. Our free online calculator offers a user‐friendly tool for individual IS calculations and also offers efficient batch processing of data for research.

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