Insulin-infusion-pump treatment of diabetes: influence of improved metabolic control on plasma somatomedin levels.

We examined whether changes in somatomedin accompany those seen in glucose and growth hormone during treatment with the insulin-infusion pump. somatomedin levels in eight insulin-dependent diabetics (13 to 29 years of age) were measured before and after 16 weeks of outpatient insulin-pump treatment, which lowered mean glucose from 245 +/- 21 to 100 +/- 5 mg per deciliter and total glycosylated hemoglobin from 16.2 +/- 1.2 to 9.7 +/- 0.3 per cent (mean +/- S.E.M.). During conventional insulin therapy, both total somatomedin and somatomedin C were within the normal range, despite elevations in growth hormone. Pump treatment resulted in a 70 to 75 per cent increase in both total somatomedin and somatomedin C (P less than 0.05) and a fall in growth-hormone concentrations. In the two growing adolescents, growth velocity doubled during 13 to 15 months of pump treatment. Our data suggest that the improved insulin delivery or metabolic control increases somatomedin levels despite a decrease in growth hormone. Thus, insulin-pump treatment may be useful in optimizing growth in diabetic children.