Evaluation of blood glucose changes with regular versus rapid-acting insulin for hyperglycaemia management in the emergency department.

Objectives: As emergency department (ED) visits secondary to hyperglycaemia increase, goals should focus on optimising treatment to minimise the length of stay (LOS). Both regular and rapid-acting insulins can effectively treat hyperglycaemia, but have different pharmacokinetic profiles. The purpose of this study is to compare blood glucose (BG) reduction over time in patients receiving subcutaneous regular versus rapid-acting insulin in the ED.

Methods: This retrospective chart review from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020 included adult ED patients with a BG ≥200 mg/dl who received subcutaneous regular insulin or insulin aspart. The primary endpoint was a change in BG immediately before and ≥30 min after insulin administration over time.

Results: There were 279 patients included in the study (108 regular insulin and 171 insulin aspart). Change in BG over time was 41.5 mg/dl/h in the regular insulin group and 47 mg/dl/h in the insulin aspart group (P = 0.36). There was no difference in hypoglycaemic events, ED LOS, time from insulin administration to discharge and total change in BG during ED stay. Patients who received regular insulin required less additional insulin doses (8.3% vs. 18.1%, P = 0.02), received a greater volume of intravenous fluids (1629 ml vs. 1280 ml, P = 0.02) and higher weight-based dose for the first insulin dose (0.11 units/kg vs. 0.10 units/kg, P = 0.02).

Conclusion: There was no significant difference in BG reduction between insulin types for hyperglycaemic patients treated in the ED. This suggests that regular insulin and rapid-acting insulin have similar efficacy in the treatment of hyperglycaemia in the ED.