Carbohydrate Consumption as a Factor in Aspart Dosing
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2012-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Good sugar control in postoperative hospitalized patient has been shown to improve wound
healing and infection rates. However, sugar control is difficult to achieve and suboptimal
use of insulin is thought to be a contributory factor. Though it is known that generally the
consumption of carbohydrates alone raises the blood sugar, the usual practice of dosing
meal-time insulin is based on the fraction of the total meal-tray eaten which includes
proteins, fats and carbohydrates. This leads to an overestimation of insulin required for a
patient who consumes a portion of mainly proteins and fats on their trays or an
underestimation for those eating mainly the carbohydrates on their tray. Low sugars or high
blood sugars can follow respectively.
Hypothesis: The purpose of this study is to see if dosing meal-time insulin based on grams of
carbohydrates consumed will result in better sugar control compared to the usual practice of
dosing meal-time insulin based on percent of total meal consumed in hospitalized patients.