Insulin pumps offer an alternative to multiple daily injections of insulin by syringe. (CBC)

Children and teens with Type 1 diabetes were able to better control their blood sugar using an automated system that measures glucose levels in real time than with a conventional insulin pump, researchers found.

British researchers tested the system, which mimics the function of the pancreas using a pump that delivers insulin and a matchbox-sized monitor, on 17 people age five to 18 with Type 1 diabetes.

In Type 1 diabetes, the body is no longer able to make insulin. Left untreated, damage to blood vessels and nerves may result.

The study aimed to prevent a potentially dangerous drop in blood glucose levels during the night, particularly after eating a large dinner or doing exercise in the late afternoon — two activities that increase the body's need for glucose.

Conventional insulin pumps deliver insulin at pre-programmed rates. The artificial pancreas delivers insulin based on real-time glucose measurements.

In the study, published in Friday's issue of the medical journal The Lancet, children with the artificial pancreas kept their blood glucose levels in the normal range 60 per cent of the time compared with 40 per cent for the pump.

Closed-loop system

The number of times that blood glucose levels fell to those considered mildly hypoglycemic was halved, the researchers found.

"Our results show that overnight manual closed-loop insulin delivery can improve glucose control and reduce risk of hypoglycemia in young patients with Type 1 diabetes," the study's authors concluded.

"Closed-loop systems could transform management of Type 1 diabetes, but their introduction is likely to be gradual."

The eventual goal is a fully automated system that can check patients day and night using wireless data transmission rather than manual control of the pump by a nurse.

"Starting with overnight control before addressing control at meal times and during various activities is the most rational way forward," said Dr. Eric Renard of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier in France in a journal commentary.

The study used devices and sensors from Smiths Medical, a unit of Smiths Group, Abbott Diabetes Care, a unit of Abbott Laboratories, and Medtronic.