Control of blood glucose levels by an artificial pancreas in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia

Abstract

Background Many patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pneumonia experience hyperglycemia. It is often difficult to control blood glucose (BG) levels in such patients using standard intravenous insulin infusion therapy. Therefore, we used an artificial pancreas. This study aimed to compare the BG status of the artificial pancreas with that of standard therapy. Methods Fifteen patients were included in the study. BG values and the infusion speed of insulin and glucose by the artificial pancreas were collected. Arterial BG and administration rates of insulin, parenteral sugar, and enteral sugar were recorded during the artificial pancreas and standard therapy. The target BG level was 200 mg/dl. Results Arterial BG was highly correlated with BG data from the artificial pancreas. A higher BG slightly increased the difference between the BG data from the artificial pancreas and arterial BS. No significant difference in arterial BG was observed between the artificial pancreas and standard therapy. However, the standard deviation with the artificial pancreas was smaller than that under standard therapy ( p < 0.0001). More points within the target BG range were achieved with the artificial pancreas (180–220 mg/dl) than under standard therapy. The hyperglycemic index of the artificial pancreas (8.7 ± 15.6 mg/dl) was lower than that of standard therapy (16.0 ± 21.5 mg/dl) ( p = 0.0387). No incidence of hypoglycemia occurred under the artificial pancreas. Conclusions The rate of achieving target BG was higher using artificial pancreas than with standard therapy. An artificial pancreas helps to control BG in critically ill patients.